MAIN    LIBRARY  AQRIG.  OCFT 


FLAX  CULTURE: 

AN  •  OUTLINE  •  OF  •  THE  •  HISTORY  •  AND 
PRESENT  •  CONDITION  •  OF  •  THE  •  FLAX 
INDUSTRY  •  IN  -  THE  •  UNITED  •  STATES,  •  AND 
A  •  CONSIDERATION  •  OF  -  THE  •  INFLUENCE 
EXERTED  •  ON  '  IT  v  BY  •  LEGISLATION. 


BY 


EDMUND   A.  WHITMAN,  A.M., 
if 

OF  THE  BOSTON  BAR, 


WITH   AN   INTRODUCTION   BY 

J.  R.  LEESON. 


BOSTON : 
RAND    AVERY    COMPANY. 

1888. 


Copyright,  1888,  by  J.  R.  LEESON. 

ltf*A«r 


RAND    AVERY    COMPANY 
MADE  THIS   BOOK. 


PREFACE. 


THIS  volume  aims  to  be  brief,  readable, 
and  pertinent  to  the  point  at  issue ;  name- 
ly, that  a  duty  on  imported  flax  is  unneces- 
sary, and  a  hinderance  to  the  development 
of  the  flax-growing  and  linen-manufac- 
turing industries  in  the  United  States. 
The  facts  and  figures  upon  which  this 
study  is  based  are  taken  almost  entirely 
from  publications  of  the  United  States 
Government,  and  the  object  has  been  to 
tell  the  story,  so  far  as  is  possible,  in  the 
words  of  the  government  experts.  Fre- 
quent references  have  been  made  for 
ready  verification. 


M511720 


CONTENTS. 


PACE 

INTRODUCTION   ." 7 

By  J.  R.  LEESON. 

FLAX:    ITS     CULTURE     AND    USE     IN     THE 

UNITED     STATES 17 

FLAX       CULTURE       AS       INFLUENCED       BY 

LEGISLATION 68 

APPENDIX 91 


FLAX  CULTURE  AND  USE  IN  THE 
UNITED  STATES. 


AN  INTRODUCTION 

BY  J.    R.    LEESON. 


THAT  "  supply  waits  upon  demand,"  is 
so  universally  acknowledged  as  to  have  be- 
come a  truism  ;  so  trite,  indeed,  as  to  make 
iteration  a  tedious  jarring  of  a  worn-out 
string.  There  are,  however,  some  among 
us  who  would  seem  to  think  that  demand 
is  created  by  supply.  This  is,  practically, 
the  position  of  those  who  advocate  the 
retention  of  the  duty  on  flax.  They  have 
endeavored  to  induce  our  farmers  to  pro- 
duce flax  fibre  before  the  demand  of  Amer- 
ican spinners  is  sufficiently  extensive  to 
warrant  the  necessary  study  and  outlay 
involved.  By  limiting  the  home  consump- 
tion of  flax  through  the  enhancement  of  the 
price  of  the  flax-spinners'  raw  material  to 
the  extent  of  the  impost  duty,  the  believers 


8  INTRODUCTION. 

in  this  cart-before-the-horse  method  of  pro- 
cedure would,  to  borrow  the  quaint  phrase 
of  Adam  Smith,  "diminish  the  number  of 
those  who  are  capable  of  paying  for  it,  — 
surely  a  most  unpromising  expedient  for 
encouraging  the  cultivation.  It  is  like  the 
policy  which  would  promote  agriculture  by 
discouraging  manufactures." 

Probably  our  agricultural  friends  may  be 
safely  left  to  decide  for  themselves  what 
crops  it  will  best  pay  them  to  cultivate ; 
they  have  shown  their  grasp  of  the  situa- 
tion, no  less  than  the  fertility  of  the  land, 
by  a  gross  annual  product  of  their  farms  of 
two  or  three  thousand  millions  of  dollars 
worth,  leaving  far  behind  every  nation  which 
gives  statistics  of  its  growth,  and  supplying 
us  all  with  greater  variety  and  abundance 
of  food  than  was  ever  known  in  any  country 
or  any  era. 

The  advocates  of  a  duty  upon  flax  fail 
to  perceive  the  littleness  of  the  interest 
under  review.  What  is  this  demand,  for 
the  supply  whereof  farmers  are  advised  to 
make  such  elaborate  preparation  ?  The 
value  of  flax  imports  may  be  taken  as  an 
approximate  measure  of  actual  consump- 


INTRODUCTION:  9 

tion,  home-grown  flax  being  of  such  in- 
significant amount  as  to  be  inappreciable. 
The  farmer  is  asked  to  turn  aside  from  the 
cultivation  of  hay,  with  an  annual  product 
of  nearly  three  hundred  million  dollars; 
potatoes,  exceeding  fifty  million  dol- 
lars ;  or  cotton,  with  three  or  four  hundred 
million  dollars  worth  :  in  order  that  he 
may  supply  two  million  dollars  worth  of 
flax! 

What  is  the  inference  that  is  permissible 
from  these  data,  namely :  the  increase  in 
the  growth  of  flax  fibre  in  the  United  States 
from  less  than  5,000,000  pounds  in  1860  to 
over  27,000,000  pounds  in  1870,  and  the 
subsequent  decline  to  less  than  2,000,000 
pounds  in  1880?  The  rise  and  fall  in 
supply  having  been  exactly  coincident  with 
the  shortness  or  abundance  of  cotton, 
and  the  consequent  greater  or  less  demand 
for  a  substitute  therefor,  it  is  fair  to  ascribe 
the  increased  or  diminished  supply  of 
domestic  flax  to  the  varying  vicissitudes 
incident  to  the  raw  cotton  supply  ;  the 
inevitable  conclusion  is,  that  the  effect  of 
the  duty  on  scutched  and  hackled  flax  upon 
domestic  production  is  absolutely  nil,  and 


10  INTRODUCTION. 

that  the  statement  of  the  competent  wit- 
ness given  on  page  40  may  be  accepted  as 
true,  that  "  if  there  was  $1000  per  ton  duty 
on  flax,  it  would  not  make  the  slightest 
difference  with  farmers." 

Why  should  the  American  farmer  devote 
years  of  preparation  for  the  supply  of  such 
a  limited  requirement?  He  wisely  scatters 
his  flax-seed  thinly,  raises  a  seed  crop  with- 
out effort  or  special  study,  and  markets  the 
product  readily  at  a  profit.  He  has  more 
sunlight,  more  heat,  and  less  moisture  in 
the  air,  than  any  flax-grower  has  in  coun- 
tries where  fibre  chiefly  is  produced.  He 
will  do  well  to  continue  his  self-appointed 
course,  which  takes  into  the  account  the 
meteorological  conditions  which  surround 
him ;  leaving  the  growth  of  fibre  to  those 
who  have  experience,  cheap  labor,  and  a 
humid  atmosphere,  to  aid  them. 

It  might  be  inferred  from  the  display  of 
pyrotechnics  with  which  we  have  been 
favored  on  this  subject,  that  American 
farmers  must  grow  flax  for  fibre  that  they 
may  be  entitled  to  a  respectable  status  in 
this  connection.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
showing  the  fallacy  in  this  assumption, 


IN  TROD  UCTION.  1 1 

the  value  of  flax  seed  annually  grown 
in  this  country  exceeds  the  value  of 
all  the  flax  fibre  raised  in  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland,  equals  the  value  of  the  cele- 
brated Belgian  flax  crop,  is  far  in  excess 
of  the  value  of  the  Dutch  crop,  and  is  four 
or  five  times  more  valuable  than  all  the 
flax  fibre,  straw,  and  tow  of  flax,  now 
imported  into  this  country  for  domestic 
manufacture,  while  it  is  of  ten  times 
greater  value  than  all  the  manufactures 
of  linen  imported,  other  than  woven 
fabrics,  which  are  not  manufactured  here 
except  in  limited  quantity.  The  Territory 
of  Dakota  alone  produces  flax  seed  to  the 
extent  of  double  the  value  of  all  the  flax 
fibre  imported.  It  is  stated  in  a  recent 
official  document  that  "  in  many  instances 
a  single  crop  [of  seed]  has  paid  for  the 
land,  in  addition  to  the  cost  of  breaking 
and  planting."  With  such  facts  before  us, 
and  bearing  in  mind  the  so-called  arguments 
in  favor  of  maintaining  a  duty  on  scutched 
and  hackled  flax  with  the  supposed  object 
of  inducing  the  growth  of  flax  fibre,  it  may 
be  expected  that  we  shall  next  be  gravely 
informed  that  the  major  is  contained  in  the 


1 2  IN  TROD  UCTION. 

minor  quantity ;  recalling  Sir  Isaac  New- 
ton's amusing  adventure  during  an  absent- 
minded  spell  in  cutting  a  hole  in  the  door 
for  his  cat  to  pass  through,  and  then 
making  a  smaller  aperture  for  the  accom- 
modation of  the  kitten. 

It  need  not  be  doubted  that  the  growers 
will  discover  the  proper  time  to  produce 
flax  fibre,  without  being  helped  thereunto 
by  peripatetic  blowing  of  penny  whistles, 
and  the  periodical  explosion  of  sky-rockets, 
which  has  been  witnessed  in  these  modern 
times,  in  relation  to  this  question. 

When  we  consider  the  fact  that  Russia 
can  annually  export  over  four  hundred 
million  pounds  of  flax,  in  addition  to  a 
large  home  consumption  ;  when  we  reflect 
that  under  the  stimulus  of  good  prices  and 
a  special  demand  during  the  period  of 
scarcity  of  cotton  in  this  country,  our  flax- 
growers  never  attained  an  annual  product 
of  thirty  million  pounds, —  say  one -fif- 
teenth of  the  Russian  export,  —  what  is 
the  inevitable  deduction  from  such  data  ? 
Is  it  not  clear  and  conclusive  that  the 
farmers  fully  appreciate  the  merits  of 
the  case,  "  the  want  of  a  regular  and 


INTROD  UCTION.  1 3 

accessible  market "  ?  It  indicates  no  less 
clearly  the  futility  of  present  attempts  to 
shriek  our  farmers  into  flax  culture,  as  well 
as  the  folly  of  perpetuating  the  import 
duty  upon  a  material  which,  as  all  the  facts 
and  statistics  show,  must  be  imported  if 
flax-spinning  is  to  continue  in  this  country. 
When  an  increased  use  of  flax  fibre  shall 
have  been  superinduced  through  the  devel- 
opment of  the  manufacture  of  woven  linen 
fabrics,  the  intelligence  of  the  farmers  may 
be  relied  on  to  avail  themselves  of  what- 
ever advantages  may  be  offered  by  such 
enlargement  of  the  demand  at  home  for 
flax  of  high  quality. 

Meanwhile,  what  is  the  rational  course 
for  the  economist  and  the  legislator  ? 
There  is  but  one  answer :  Provide  an 
adequate  demand  before  creating  a  supply  ; 
remove  every  impediment,  —  take  the  duty 
off  the  raw  material,  and  thus  encourage 
the  establishment  of  flax-spinning  enter- 
prises in  our  midst,  and  the  supply  of 
home-grown  flax  will,  in  due  season,  doubt- 
less be  forthcoming.  As  President  Monroe 
so  suggestively  intimates  in  his  masterly 
communication  to  Congress,  in  1821,  "By 


14  INTRODUCTION. 

the  increase  of  domestic  manufactures  will 
the  demand  for  the  rude  materials  at  home 
be  increased." 

It  has  been  said  by  the  opponents  ot 
free  flax,  that  because  the  duty  on  scutched 
flax  is  two  per  centum  more  than  on 
hackled  flax,  a  large  proportion  of  flax 
imports  consists  of  hackled  flax,  which 
would,  but  for  this  difference  of  two  per 
cent  of  duty,  be  imported  as  scutched  flax 
to  be  hackled  here.  That  there  are  those 
who  can  listen  to  a  proposition  that  two 
per  centum  less  duty  will  offset  a  difference 
of  one  hundred  per  centum  in  the  wages, 
which  is  admitted  to  exist  between  hack- 
lers'  wages  here  and  in  Europe,  indicates 
the  height  of  absurdity  to  which  the  dis- 
cussion of  this  flax  question  sometimes 
aspires.  A  glance  at  the  statistics  will 
show  how  needless  are  the  crocodile's 
tears  which  a  mention  of  the  hackler's 
hypothetical  hard  lot  seldom  fails  to  bring 
forth.  The  imports  of  scutched  flax  in 
1887  were  4,645  tons,  value  $1,026,207;  of 
hackled  flax,  1,236  tons,  value  $649,737.  If 
we  compare  the  relative  value  of  scutched 
and  hackled  flax  imported  in  1884  and  in 


INTROD  UCTION.  1 5 

1887,  we  at  once  see  how  little  foundation 
there  is  for  the  outcry  now  being  raised, 
ostensibly  in  behalf  of  domestic  hacklers. 
While  the  increase  in  the  imports,  during 
the  period  named,  of  hackled  flax,  was 
less  than  twenty  per  centum,  the  imports 
of  scutched  flax  show  a  gain  in  the  same 
time  of  over  seventy-five  per  centum  in 
value.  And  yet  we  are  seriously  invited 
to  pity  the  poor  hackler,  and  shield  him 
from  the  assaults  of  that  terrible  ogre,  the 
hackled  flax  importer ! 

It  will  be  observed  that  throughout  this 
volume  the  nomenclature  of  raw  flax  which 
obtained  prior  to  the  tariff  of  1870  is 
employed.  Raw  flax  is  held  to  mean  the 
fibre  of  the  flax  plant  so  long  as  it  remains 
a  fibre  simply.  The  several  preparatory 
processes  through  which  the  fibre  passes 
—  rippling,  steeping,  spreading,  lifting, 
scutching,  hackling,  each  requiring  care 
and  mechanical  dexterity — are  designed 
and  intended  to  put  the  fibre  into  a  con- 
dition suited  to  the  reception  of  the  first 
process  of  manufacture,  i.e.,  the  preparing. 
Until  the  preparing  frame  has  metamor- 
phosed the  material,  there  is  no  essen- 


16  INTRODUCTION. 

tial  change  in  the  form  or  nature  of  the 
substance :  the  bulk  is  lessened,  the 
dross  thrown  off,  the  fibre  disintegrated, 
but  it  is  a  fibre  still ;  it  is  flax,  not  a  yarn, 
nor  in  any  scientific  sense  a  manufactured 
product ;  it  is  unfit  for  use  in  any  art,  and 
is  therefore  strictly  a  raw  material,  and 
nothing  more.  In  this  sense  it  was  always 
regarded  and  legislated  upon  before  the 
passage  of  the  Act  of  1870,  when  by  spe- 
cial pleading  and  sophistical  ratiocination, 
suggested  by  the  exigencies  of  a  private 
need  and  particular  interests,  it  was  sought 
to  attach  to  hackled  flax  a  different  char- 
acter from  scutched  flax.  That  this  is  an 
unnatural,  far-fetched  designation,  a  "  dis- 
tinction without  a  difference,"  will  be  ad- 
mitted by  those  who  candidly  analyze  the 
nature  of  the  material,  who  study  and  re- 
flect upon  the  methods  of  manipulation  to 
which  it  is  subjected,  and  who,  throwing 
aside  that  prejudice  which  is  born  of  a 
restricted  vision,  regard  the  elements  and 
principles  at  issue  with  the  single  desire  to 
judge  aright,  and  form  a  just  conclusion. 


FLAX. 

Its  Culture  and  Use  in  the  United  States, 


AMONG  the  articles  placed  upon  the 
"  free  list,"  in  the  so-called  Mills  Tariff 
Bill,  is  unmanufactured  flax  in  its  various 
forms,  dressed  and  undressed.  At  a  recent 
meeting  of  the  Flax  and  Hemp  Spinners' 
and  Growers'  Association,  held  this  year  in 
the  city  of  Washington  presumably  for  the 
purpose  of  influencing  legislation,  it  was 
unanimously  voted  that  the  interests  of 
the  flax  industry  require  that  the  present 
duty  on  unmanufactured  flax  be  retained ; 
and  memorials  were  presented  signed  by 
employees  and  workingmen  in  flax  manu- 
facturing establishments  to  the  same  effect. 
The  present  treatise  is  devoted  to  a  review 
of  the  condition  of  the  flax  industry  in  the 
United  States,  and  an  examination  of  the 

17 


18  FLAX  CULTURE 

question  whether  the  present  rates  of  duty 
are  of  any  benefit  to  our  flax  growers,  and 
may  not,  indeed,  be  a  burden  to  the  farmer 
as  well  as  to  the  manufacturer  and  con- 
sumer ;  whether,  in  short,  the  duty  on  raw 
flax  is  not  one  of  those  curiosities  of  the 
protective  system  that  the  tariff  reformer, 
whether  free-trader  or  protectionist,  desires 
to  remove. 

Flax  has  been  grown  and  manufactured 
in  this  country  ever  since  the  first  colonies 
were  settled.  Before  the  invention  of  the 
cotton-gin  so  cheapened  the  production  of 
cotton  fabric,  flax  spinning  and  weaving 
was  a  common  household  industry.  The 
older  generation  of  the  present  day  re- 
member the  spinning-wheel,  and  distaff 
wound  with  flax,  in  the  corner  of  the 
country  kitchen. 

The  importance  of  the  industry  was 
early  recognized,  and  it  was  carefully 
fostered  by  legislation.  The  Massachu- 
setts General  Assembly  passed  an  Act  to 
encourage  the  production  of  flax  as  early 
as  1640;  and  Massachusetts  was  followed 


AND    USE  IN   UNITED  STATES.         19 

by  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  Virginia,  and 
other  States.1  In  1719  a  large  immigra- 
tion of  Scotch-Irish  from  Londonderry  to 
New  Hampshire  improved  the  colonial 
knowledge  of  the  cultivation  and  manu- 
facture of  flax.2  A  series  of  papers  be- 
tween 1787  and  1791,  by  Tench  Coxe, 
Commissioner  of  the  Revenue,  shows  the 
manufacture  "  in  a  household  way"  of  all 
sorts  of  linen  goods.  In  the  first  nine 
months  of  1791  he  reports  the  manufac- 
ture, "  in  a  family  way,"  of  25,265  yards  of 
linen  cloth  in  Massachusetts  and  Rhode 
Island  alone.  The  census  of  1810  shows 
the  production  for  the  census  year,  of 
21,211,262  yards  of  linen  made  in  families. 
Of  this  amount  New  York  produced 
5,303,000  yards;  Pennsylvania,  3,000,000; 
Connecticut,  2,250,000;  and  New  Hamp- 
shire, 1,000,000  yards.  The  flax  was  in 
most  cases  grown  by  the  families  that 
manufactured  the  linen.3  Sixty  years  ago 
Connecticut  flax  was  strong,  clean,  and 

1  Rep.  of  Dept.  of  Ag.  for  1862,  p.  119.  2  Ibid. 

3  Rep.  of  Dept.  of  Ag.  for  1877,  p.  176. 


20  FLAX  CULTURE 

good.  The  flax  from  New  York  and 
Vermont  was  strong  but  not  clean.1 

As  has  been  said,  the  invention  of  the 
cotton-gin,  and  the  consequent  cheapen- 
ing of  cotton  cloth,  destroyed  this  house- 
hold industry  ;  but  it  by  no  means  killed 
the  linen  industry.  For  certain  purposes 
linen  is  indispensable  ;  and  its  strength, 
beauty,  and  durability  so  far  surpass 
cotton,  that  it  maintains  its  place  in  defi- 
ance of  all  competition. 

However,  the  domestic  production  of 
flax  fibre  gradually  fell  off  and  died  out ; 
and,  to  quote  from  the  report  of  a  Con- 
gressional commission  in  1864,  "It  is 
well  known  that  the  only  mill  of  this  class 
in  our  country,  fully  equipped  for  spin- 
ning and  weaving  fine  long  line  yarns 
(located  at  Fall  River,  Mass.),  was,  after 
a  great  outlay  of  capital  and  immense 
exertions  to  operate  at  a  profit,  converted 
into  a  cotton-mill  at  a  heavy  loss,  in  con- 
sequence of  an  insufficient  home  supply 
(of  raw  material) ,  the  mill  being  precluded 

1  Rep.  of  Dept.  of  Ag.  for  1879,  P-  573- 


AND   USE  IN  UNITED  STATES.         21 

from  using  foreign  stock  by  a  practically 
interdictive  duty."1  In  other  words,  for 
some  reason,  a  "  practically  interdictive 
duty  "  did  not  induce  our  farmers  to  turn 
their  attention  to  the  cultivation  of  fine 
flax  fibre. 

Let  us  now  see  what  protection  the  tariff 
has  afforded  to  the  flax  growers.  From 
the  establishment  of  the  government  until 
1842,  unmanufactured  flax  was  admitted 
free  of  duty,  except  for  a  short  time  be- 
tween 1828  and  1832,  when  a  duty  of 
thirty-five  and  sixty  dollars  a  ton  was  im- 
posed.2 Even  Alexander  Hamilton  in  his 
watchful  care  of  American  industries  saw 
no  reason  for  imposing  a  duty  on  raw  flax. 
In  1842  a  uniform  duty  of  twenty  dollars 
a  ton  was  imposed  on  all  forms  of  raw  flax. 
In  1846  this  was  changed  to  an  ad  valorem 
duty  of  fifteen  per  cent,  which  amounted  to 
twenty-five  to  thirty  dollars  per  ton  on  the 

1  38th  Congress,  2d  session,  Sen.  Ex.  Doc.  35,  p.  51. 

2  "  On  unmanufactured  flax,  thirty-five  dollars  per  ton,  until 
the  thirtieth  day  of  June,  1829,  from  which  time  an  additional 
duty  of  five  dollars  per  ton  per  annum,  until  the  duty  shall 
amount  to  sixty  dollars  per  ton."    Act  of  May  19,  1828.    United 
States  Statutes  at  Large,  vol.  iv.  p.  272. 


22  FLAX  CULTURE 

average.  In  1857  raw  flax  was  again  re- 
stored to  the  free  list,  and  it  there  remained 
until  the  war  tariff  of  1861  which  imposed 
a  uniform  duty  of  fifteen  dollars  per  ton. 
This  figure  ran  the  gauntlet  of  some  six- 
teen tariff  bills,  until  1870,  when  raw  flax 
received  a  most  vigorous  taxing.  Flax 
straw,  which  had  never  hitherto  had  any 
duty  imposed  on  it,  was  now  taxed  five 
dollars  per  ton,  —  a  prohibitory  duty.  The 
duty  on  the  tow  of  flax,  which  had  been 
five  dollars  per  ton,  was  doubled  ;  and  a 
curious  distinction,  which  had  never  been 
thought  of  before,  was  made  in  the  forms 
of  flax  fibre.  The  duty  on  the  undressed 
fibre  was  raised  from  fifteen  to  twenty 
dollars  per  ton  ;  but  dressed  or  "  hackled  " 
flax,  which  is  the  fibre  with  the  chaff  and 
tow  combed  out,  practically  merely  cleaned, 
was  taxed  forty  dollars  per  ton.  These  are 
now  the  present  rates  of  duty.1 

We  have  seen  that  the  tariff  killed  one 

1  These  figures  are  taken  from  the  "Tariff  Compilation, 
1884,"  48th  Cong.,  ist  session,  Sen.  No.  12. 

In  this  connection,  the  following  quotation  from  a  letter 
of  a  manufacturer  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  in  1886 


AND   USE  IN  UNITED  STATES.         23 

large  linen  industry ;  what  has  been  the 
history  of  the  general  industry  ?  An  enor- 
mous impulse  was  given  to  the  flax  indus- 
try during  the  war  of  the  Rebellion.  The 
supplies  of  raw  cotton  were  cut  off,  and 
the  Northern  mills  lay  idle.  This  increased 
the  demand  for  linen  goods,  and  every 
effort  was  made  to  encourage  the  domestic 
production  of  flax.  The  Agricultural  Re- 
ports of  the  United  States  during  the  years 
of  the  war  are"  full  of  careful  reports  on 
flax,  and  contain  much  valuable  informa- 
tion on  flax  culture  to  aid  the  farmer.  In 
1863  Congress  appropriated  twenty  thou- 
sand dollars  for  an  investigation  "  to  test 
the  practicability  of  cultivating  and  prepar- 
ing flax  or  hemp  as  a  substitute  for  cotton." 
A  commission  was  appointed  which  exam- 
ined the  whole  subject  thoroughly,  and 

is  of  interest :  "  Flax  is  long  fibred  and  kept  straight.  Tow  is 
short  fibred  and  not  kept  straight.  Flax  is  usually  tied  in 
bundles  of  about  one  hundred  pounds  each,  and  tow  is  pressed 
into  bales  of  about  five  hundred  pounds  each.  Hundreds  of 
tons  of  flax  have  been  entered  at  ten  dollars  per  ton  duty, 
during  the  past  three  or  four  years,  by  being  laid  straight  into 
tow  presses,  and  pressed  into  five-hundred-pound  bales,  like 
tow."  — Rep.  of  Sec.  of  Tr.  on  Tar.  Revis.,  p.  105. 


24  FLAX  CULTURE 

made  a  most  elaborate  report  to  Congress.1 
These  efforts  of  the  General  Government, 
combined  with  the  high  price  of  flax,  stim- 
ulated the  growth  of  flax,  and  the  amount 
of  flax  fibre  produced  was  large.  When, 
however,  the  close  of  the  war  supplied  the 
mills  with  cotton,  the  production  of  flax 
fibre  began  to  fall  off,  so  that,  to  quote 
from  the  Agricultural  Report  of  the  United 
States  for  1879,  "  It  is  impossible  to  esti- 
mate the  amount  of  American  dressed  flax 
consumed  at  the  present  time.  It  is  a 
ridiculously  small  amount  at  best,  —  too 
small  for  a  country  boasting  such  diversity 
of  soil  and  climate.  The  quality  of  the 
last  crop  was  considerably  below  the  aver- 
age, and  the  yield  was  likewise  small." 2 
To-day,  in  1888,  the  best-informed  men 
in  the  flax-fibre  industry  are  unable  to 
estimate  the  amount  of  American  flax  pro- 
duced. A  good  deal  of  flax  is  still  sown, 
but  merely  for  the  seed.  Nothing  is  so 
convincing  as  the  actual  statistics,  and  that 
is  our  excuse  for  the  tables  below. 


AND   USE  IN  UNITED  STATES.         2$ 

Statistics  of  the  Production  of  Flax  Fibre  in  the  United  States, 


Pounds  of  fibre 
produced. 

Census  of 
1850. 

Census  of 
1860. 

Census  of 
1870. 

Census  of 
1880. 

7,709,676 

4,720,145 

27,133,034 

1,565,546 

Thus,  in  spite  of  the  high  rate  of  duty 
imposed  in  1870,  the  production  of  flax 
has  fallen  off  enormously,  and  the  amount 
produced  in  1880,  under  a  high  tariff,  was 
less  than  one-third  the  amount  produced 
in  1860,  when  flax  was  on  the  free  list. 

Ohio  has  been  a  leading  State  in  the 
cultivation  of  flax.  The  following  figures, 
taken  from  the  State  Agricultural  Reports, 
will  indicate  the  history  of  the  flax  industry 
in  that  State  : x  — 


Pounds  of  Fibre  produced. 

Pounds  of  Fibre  produced. 

In  1862 

2,738,238 

In  1875 

5,285,417 

1865 

3,146,892 

1880 

3  5,642,025 

1870 

16,864,378 

I883 

2,501,545 

1871 

2    24,477,361 

1  See  Rep.  U.  S.  Dept.  Ag.  for  1877,  p.  175. 

2  Highest  point  reached. 

3  There  is  a  discrepancy  between  these  figures  and  those  in 
the  return  of  the  United  States  Census.     This  is  probably  due 
to  the  return  of  the  State  Board  including  coarse  fibre  and  tow 
not  taken  into  account  by  the  census  officers. 


26 


FLAX  CULTURE 


It  is  estimated  that  in  1883  seventy-five 
million  pounds  of  straw  were  grown  in 
Ohio,  though  but  two  and  a  half  million 
pounds  of  fibre  are  returned,  five  or  six 
pounds  of  straw  producing  one  of  fibre. 
The  remainder  of  the  straw  was  burnt. 
The  rapid  decrease  of  the  production  in 
Ohio  is  shown  most  strikingly  by  referring 
to  the  figures  from  a  few  counties. 


Produc- 
tion in 
pounds. 

Trumbull 
County. 

Greene 
County. 

Allen 
County. 

Preble 
County. 

Darke 
County. 

1881 

459435 

338,900 

155,900 

433,700 

339»6?6 

1882 

150,900 

20,434 

10,621 

134,800 

87,178 

1883 

66,890 

11,000 

- 

4,114 

56,880 

New  York  was  once  a  large  flax-growing 
region  ;  and  a  similar  comparison  by  coun- 
ties shows  the  history  of  flax  in  New  York, 
the  figures  being  taken  from  the  United- 
States  census. 


Produc- 
tion in 
pounds. 

Whole 
State. 

Washington 
County. 

Rensselaer 
County. 

S.Lawrence 
County. 

Schoharie 
County. 

1870 

3,670,818 

1,285,033 

774,773 

104,266 

84,811 

1880 

843,965 

343,262 

324,642 

1,510 

30 

AND   USE  IN  UNITED  STATES. 


These  are  some  of  the  counties  where 
the  well-known  "  North  River  flax "  is 
grown,  Rensselaer  County  being  "  the  seat 
of  the  linen  industry  in  this  country." x 
Turn  now  to  the  statistics  of  the  imports 
of  unmanufactured  flax  into  the  United 
States,  the  figures  being  taken  from  the 
Agricultural  Report  of  the  United  States 
for  1877,  except  for  the  two  last  years. 


Cwt. 

Value. 

1850  .... 

M,474 

$128,917 

1855  .... 

28,961 

286,809 

1860  .... 

- 

213,687 

1865  .... 

28,332 

369,359 

1870  .... 

38,540 

605,962 

1875  .... 

86,440 

1,112,405 

1881  .... 

108,920 

1,462,286 

1887  .... 

141,960 

1,908,845 

It  is  instructive  but  tiresome  to  multiply 
tables.  Some  further  tables,  giving  the 
most  recent  statistics,  are  to  be  found  in 
the  appendix. 

1  Rep.  Dept.  Ag.  U.  S.  for  1877,  p.  183. 


28  FLAX  CULTURE 

It  has  been  assumed  in  the  foregoing 
discussion,  that  the  flax  fibre  produced  in 
this  country,  though  yearly  diminishing  in 
amount,  was  of  a  fine  quality  suitable  for 
manufacture  into  threads  and  cloths.  But 
this  is  very  far  from  the  truth,  and  it  may 
be  confidently  asserted  that  outside  of  a 
very  small  amount  of  "  North  River  flax" 
grown  in  New  York,  and  possibly  an  in- 
significant amount  grown  in  New  Jersey, 
the  bulk  of  American  flax  is  fit  only  for 
paper-stock  or  upholsterer's  tow,  and  only 
a  small  amount  is  good  enough  for  even 
the  very  coarsest  kind  of  bagging. 

In  1879  Mr.  Gary,  a  flax  manufacturer 
of  Dayton,  O.,  estimated  that  there  were 
then  a  hundred  flax-mills  in  the  West  turn- 
ing out  a  yearly  product  of  three  hundred 
tons  of  tow.  Three-tenths  of  this  amount, 
he  estimated,  was  used  by  upholsterers, 
four-tenths  as  paper-stock,  and  the  remain- 
ing three-tenths  for  bagging.1  The  follow- 
ing significant  note  is  repeated  in  the 
Agricultural  Reports  for  the  State  of  Ohio 

1  Rep.  Dept.  Ag.  for  1879,  p.  577. 


AND   USE  IN  UNITED  STATES.         29 

for  the  years  1881,  1882,  1883,  at  tne  end 
of  the  tables  showing  the  production  of 
flax:  "This  crop  is  of  very  uneven  dis- 
tribution throughout  the  State,  though  not 
for  lack  of  adaptation  of  soil  or  climate. 
The  total  production  has  much  diminished 
since  the  change  in  the  tariff  on  jute.  It 
was  formerly  considered  one  of  our  best 
paying  crops  for  its  cost  of  production, 
and  was  somewhat  extensively  raised/' x 
Jute  is  an  East-Indian  fibre  used  in  the 
manufacture  of  coarse  bagging.  The  Agri- 
cultural Report  of  the  United  States  for 
1877  also  shows  that  the  fibre  produced 
was  of  the  very  coarsest  kind,  and  the 
production  was  stopped  by  the  placing  of 
jute  on  the  free  list.  In  Portage  County, 
Ohio,  the  report  goes  on  to  say,  "The 
largest  flax-mill  in  operation  a  few  years 
ago  has  failed.  The  market  for  seed  and 
fibre  was  too  far  away ;  and  though  the  crop 
paid  well,  it  was  thought  to  be  exhaust- 
ing to  the  land ;  and  now  one  may  travel 
hundreds  of  miles  in  the  county,  and  not 

1  See  Rep.  Dept.  of  Ag.  Ohio,  1883,  p.  405. 


30  FLAX  CULTURE 

see  a  flax  field."  '  "  In  Delaware  County, 
of  the  four  flax-mills  formerly  in  opera- 
tion, the  three  smaller  ones  run  about  one- 
fourth  time,  producing  tow  which  now  sells 
for  two  and  a  half  cents  per  pound."  2 

As  has  been  said,  a  small  amount  of  the 
better  grade  of  flax  is  produced  in  New 
York,  but  even  there  the  production  is 
rapidly  falling  off,  and  the  quality  declin- 
ing. A  mill  at  Herkimer,  the  same  report 
says,  uses  forty  tons  annually,  and  em- 
ploys two  hands,  cheese  dairying  having 
almost  entirely  superseded  flax  culture ; 
and  flax  for  the  mills  in  Rensselaer  Coun- 
ty is  largely  imported  from  Canada  and 
Europe.3 

In  the  Transactions  of  the  New  York 
State  Agricultural  Society  for  1870  (p. 
491),  there  is  a  report  from  the  secretary 
of  the  local  society  in  Washington  County, 
the  source  of  much  North  River  flax.  He 
says,  "  Favorable  mention  may  be  made  of 
the  flax  crop,  but  it  becomes  evident  from 
year  to  year  that  its  culture  is  decreasing. 

1  p.  182.  2  p.  183.  3  Ibid. 


AND   USE  IN  UNITED  STATES.         31 

Our  thirty  or  more  flax-mills  have  dwin- 
dled to  a  half-dozen." 

Nor  is  all  the  flax  grown  in  New  York 
of  a  quality  suitable  for  linen  manufac- 
ture, as  witness  the  report  from  Steuben 
County,  found  in  the  Transactions  of  the 
State  Society  for  1871  (p.  599).  The  sec- 
retary of  the  County  Society  says,  '*  The 
culture  of  flax  is  already  occupying  much 
of  the  attention  of  the  farmers  in  the 
northern  part  of  our  county.  This  sea- 
son about  four  hundred  acres  were  sown. 
The  straw  is  entirely  used  in  making  up- 
holsterers tow." 

This  State  Society  takes  the  place  in 
New  York  of  a  State  Department  of  Agri- 
culture, and  its  annual  reports  are  now 
published  with  the  official  documents  of 
the  State.  It  is  a  curious  commentary  on 
the  importance  of  the  flax  industry  in 
New  York,  that  since  1871  there  is  no 
mention  of  flax  to  be  found  in  these 
annual  reports,  although  much  space  is 
devoted  to  almost  every  crop  ;  nor  do  the 
reports  from  the  counties  mention  flax. 


32  FLAX  CULTURE 

The  Tariff  Commission  appointed  in 
1882  paid  a  good  deal  of  attention  to  flax, 
and  incidentally  much  that  is  interesting 
came  out  in  the  testimony.  Mr.  Hiram 
Sisson  of  Eagle  Bridge,  N.Y.,  appeared 
before  the  commission  as  representing 
the  flax-growing  industry.  His  testimony 
is  so  instructive  that  it  is  quoted  at 
length  :  — 

Q.  How  much  capital  in  round  numbers  is  in- 
vested in  the  manufacture  of  flax,  jute,  and  hemp 
fibre  to  be  used  in  textile  fabrics  in  this  country  ? 

A.     I  am  not  prepared  to  state. 

Q.     Is  there  any  considerable  amount  invested  ? 

A.  They  are  raising  a  great  deal  of  flax  in  the 
West  at  present,  but  it  is  for  seed  only. 

Q.  I  am  not  talking  about  that ;  but  I  understand 
from  the  paper  submitted  by  your  association  (Flax 
and  Hemp  Spinners'  and  Growers')  that  you  recom- 
mend an  additional  duty  on  the  raw  material,  rather 
in  the  hope  of  encouraging  the  growth  of  the  raw 
product  in  this  country  for  the  purpose  of  manufac- 
ture hereafter,  than  for  the  purpose  of  protecting  an 
agricultural  industry,  if  I  may  so  call  it,  which  has  not 
attained  any  considerable  magnitude. 

A.  We  are  in  hopes,  if  we  could  get  more  protec- 
tion, that  this  business  would  increase  and  enlarge. 


AND   USE  IN  UNITED  STATES.         33 

Q.  I  understand  that  it  is  grown  now  principally 
for  seed,  except  in  New  York  State. 

A.  They  do  that,  but  they  cannot  afford  to  raise 
the  flax,  and  prepare  it  for  market,  because  there  is  no 
money  in  it. 

Q.  And  it  is  not  now  raised  for  market,  except  in 
New  York  State? 

A.  •   But  a  duty  might  help  to  do  that. 

Q.  That  is  exactly  what  I  wanted  to  get  at. 
Now,  can  you  tell  me  about  how  much  capital  is  in- 
vested in  New  York  State  in  the  production  of  the 
fibre,  exclusive  of  the  seed  for  oil  ? 

A.  I  do  not  know  that  I  could  answer  that,  except 
by  saying  that  within  the  past  year  (1881)  I  have  han- 
dled between  four  and  five  hundred  thousand  pounds 
of  dressed  flax. 

Q.  And  that  flax  was  produced  in  the  State  of 
New  York? 

A.     Yes,  sir ;  produced  in  the  State  of  New  York. 

Q.     What  is  the  value  of  that  flax? 

A.     Perhaps  that  amount  would  be  worth  $60,000. 

Q.  And  the  capital  invested  in  producing  that 
amount  of  material  is  how  much  ? 

A.  I  could  not  say.  The  farmer  sows  it,  and 
then  it  goes  to  market,  and  he  gets  what  he  can  out 
of  it 

Q.  But  there  are  not  firms  exclusively  devoted  to 
this  industry? 

A.     No,  sir. 


34  FLAX  CULTURE 

Q.  How  much  enhancement  of  price  would  be 
necessary  to  induce  the  farmers  to  bring  it  (the  flax 
straw  that  is  now  burned  in  the  fields)  to  market  ? 

A.    That  I  cannot  state. 

Q.  As  I  understand,  the  reason  it  is  not  used  by 
the  manufacturers,  is  that  they  can  buy  the  material 
in  other  quarters  cheaper  than  they  can  get  it  of  the 
farmers  of  the  West. 

A.     Certainly. 

Q.  Can  you  tell  how  much  cheaper  they  can  buy 
it  in  that  way? 

A.  I  cannot  say,  because  there  are  so  many  grades 
of  flax.  /  am  not  very  well  informed  in  regard  to 
American  flax.1 

Very  evidently  not,  and  yet  this  is  the 
sort  of  testimony  that  is  relied  on  to 
keep  the  duty  on  flax. 

Mr.  Sisson  apparently  forgot  to  say  that 
cheese  dairying  was  replacing  flax  culture 
in  New  York.  He  remembered  only  that 
he  handled  half  a  million  pounds  of  New- 
York  flax  the  previous  year  (1881).  If 
that  is  correct,  he  must  have  handled  more 
than  half  the  crop  of  the  State,  as  the 
whole  production  of  New  York  by  the 

1  Rep.  of  Tar.  Com.,  pp.  282,  283. 


AND   USE  IN  UNITED  STATES.        35 

census  of  1880  was  843,965  pounds.  This, 
at  Mr.  Sisson's  figures,  would  be  worth 
something  over  $100,000;  and  yet  to  en- 
able a  few  flax  dealers  in  New  York  to 
handle  even  less  than  this  amount,  the 
American  people  were  called  upon  to  pay 
$154,508.63  in  duties  on  raw  flax  during 
the  year  ending  June  30,  1887,  and  domes- 
tic linen  manufacturers  were  handicapped 
to  that  extent. 

It  was  variously  estimated  before  the 
commission,  that  from  half  a  million  to  a 
million  tons  of  flax  are  annually  burned 
by  Western  farmers.1  The  larger  limit  is 
probably  nearer  the  truth.  Mr.  Sisson 
tried  to  convey  the  impression  in  his  testi- 
mony, that  this  was  done  because  the 
manufacturers  of  linen  could  buy  their  flax 
cheaper  abroad ;  and  that,  although  the 
Western  farmer  would  be  glad  to  give 
away  the  straw  to  be  rid  of  it.  As  Mr. 
Sisson  expressly  stated  that  he  was  not 
well  informed  as  to  American  flax,  his 
misstatements  may  be  perhaps  excusable  ; 

1  Rep.  Tar.  Com.,  pp.  287,  288,  992. 


36  FLAX  CULTURE 

but  the  truth  is,  that  this  Western  flax 
is  utterly  worthless  for  linen  manufacture. 
The  flax  is  grown  for  the  seed,  and  the 
fibre  is  coarse  and  useless  for  fine  goods. 

Such  being  the  condition  of  the  flax- 
growing  interest,  what  is  the  state  of 
manufactures  of  flax  in  this  country  ? 
The  tale  is  almost  as  doleful.  In  the  peti- 
tion of  the  Flax  and  Hemp  Spinners'  and 
Growers'  Association  to  the  Tariff  Com- 
mission, it  is  recited  that  "  Several  millions 
of  dollars  have  been  expended  by  more 
than  fifty  flax-spinning  mills,  in  an  effort 
to  manufacture  linen  goods  in  the  United 
States  ;  but  although  capital  was  not  lack- 
ing, the  American  Linen  Co.  of  Fall  River, 
Mass.,  the  Willimantic  Linen  Co.,  the 
United  States  Linen  Co.,  the  Sprague 
Linen  Co.,  and  many  others,  had  to  aban- 
don the  business,  ...  so  that  the  pres- 
ent manufacturing  establishments  number 
about  one  dozen." x  It  was  also  shown  in 
evidence,  that  there  were  only  ten  millions 
of  dollars  invested  in  this  country  [in  the 

1  Rep.  Tar.  Com.,  p.  287. 


AND   USE  IN  UNITED  STATES.         37 

manufacture  of  flax,  hemp,1  etc.,  —  an 
amount  but  very  little  in  excess  of  the 
amount  paid  in  duties  on  flax,  hemp,  etc., 
for  1887  ($9,497,981.74). 

The  present  condition  of  the  flax-grow- 
ing interest  in  this  country  was  very  well 
summed  up  by  one  of  the  manufacturers, 
in  his  testimony  before  the  Tariff  Com- 
mission. 

(p.  275.)  Q.  What  is  the  objection  to 
putting  flax,  jute,  and  hemp  on  the  free 
list,  as  raw  silk  and  raw  cotton  are  now 
on  the  free  list  ?  A.  My  answer  is,  that 
it  would  spoil  a  magnificent  possibility  for 
the  American  people. 

This  is  indeed  protection  run  mad,  — 
to  tax  the  whole  American  people  annually 
as  much  as  the  entire  capital  invested  in 
the  flax  industry,  in  order  not  to  spoil  a 
magnificent  possibility,  and  what,  in  spite 
of  strenuous  efforts  on  the  part  of  the 
Government,  has  remained  a  possibility  for 
a  hundred  years.  If  the  witness  had 
called  it  a  magnificent  impossibility  while 

1  Rep.  Tar.  Com.,  p.  288. 


38  FLAX  CULTURE 

the  present  tariff  on  raw  flax,  dressed  and 
undressed,  continues,  he  would  have  been 
nearer  the  truth.  If,  however,  he  meant 
a  possibility  in  taxation,  the  prospect  is 
truly  magnificent. 

What,  then,  is  the  reason  for  this  con- 
dition of  the  flax-growing  industry  in  the 
United  States  ?  Is  it  because  the  tariff  is 
not  high  enough,  and  more  protection  is 
needed  ?  It  would  seem  that  if  good  flax 
can  be  easily  raised  in  the  United  States, 
the  present  prices  would  be  a  sufficient 
inducement  to  the  farmer  without  any 
duty  at  all.  Flax  fibre  brings  from  $300 
to  $500  per  ton,  and  the  finest  grades  of 
dressed  flax  bring  as  high  as  $750  a  ton.1 
The  average  price  of  the  "dressed  line" 
imported  in  1887  was  $525  per  ton.  The 
Western  farmer  sells  his  straw  at  $3  to  $6 
per  ton,  and,  more  often  than  not,  is  un- 
able to  sell  it  at  any  price. 

The  Flax  and  Hemp  Spinners'  and 
Growers'  Association  says  that  a  higher 
duty  is  needed ;  although  a  leading  manu- 

1  Rep.  Tar.  Com.,  p.  1526.     Rep.  Dept.  Ag.  1879,  p.  568. 


AND   USE  IN  UNITED  STATES.        39 

facturer  and  member  of  that  association 
told  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  in 
1886,  "The  duty  upon  foreign  flax  is  $20 
per  ton,  which  is,  and  has  been,  entirely 
inadequate  to  insure  the  cultivation  of 
flax  fibre  in  this  country  for  our  own  use. 
The  duty  should  be  increased  to  $60 
per  ton  as  a  stimulus  to  the  American 
agriculturist." x  But  what  say  the  farmers? 
The  report  of  the  Tariff  Commission 
gives  some  light  on  this  point,  in  the 
testimony  of  H.  Koelkenbeck  of  Chicago. 
He  testified  that  he  was  not  connected 
with  any  manufacturing  industry,  and  was 
engaged  in  improving  flax  culture  in  the 
West.  He  had  visited  the  flax  districts 
of  Missouri,  Illinois,  and  Iowa,  and  was 
the  only  person  who  appeared  before 
the  Commission  who  showed  an  intimate 
knowledge  of  flax  culture.  His  testimony 
is  as  follows  :  — 

Q.  "  You  are  decidedly  of  the  opinion 
that  the  taking  off  the  duty  on  flax  would 

1  Kept,  of  Secretary  of  Treas.  on  Revision  of  the  Tariff, 
1886,  p.  105.  No  data  are  given  to  show  that  this  increase  of 
duty  would  produce  the  desired  result. 


40  FLAX  CULTURE 

not  interfere  with  its  manufacture  in  this 
country?" 

A.     "My  opinion  is  that  if  there  \\.i 
$1000  duty  on  flax  [per  ton],  it  would  not 
make  the  slightest  difference  with  farm- 
ers.    I  have  been  four  weeks  among  the 

larmers  ol  Mi-^oiiri  .mil  Illinois,  and  I 
have  asked  them.  'What  do  you  think 

of  the  present  duty  ? '  They  say,  '  We 
do  not  trouble  ourselves  about  it:  we 
rould  not  linden. ike  the  preparation  of 
flax  fibre  for  manufacturing  purposes ; 
it  is  altogether  out  of  our  power  to 
do  so :  we  have  not  the  knowledge  or 
the  time  for  it.1  " l 

Anil    later  \vhen    he  was  aj;ain    asked  re 

specting  the  farmers,  he  said,  "  The  farmer 
says,  '  I  cannot  trouble  myself  about  that, 
because  there  is  nobody  who  wants  the 
fibre.  Nobody  comes  along  and  pays  me 
a  reasonable  price  for  it ;  for  if  I  was  to 
cultivate  flax  especially  for  its  fibre,  I  would 
have  to  bestow  a  great  deal  more,  labor  and 
care  on  it,  and  have  to  sow  four  times  M 

1  P.  995- 


A  AD  USE  IN  UNITED  STATES.        4* 

much  seed ;  and  I  prefer  my  present  mode 
of  culture.'"1 

Here,  it  is  submitted,  is  the  key  of  the 
difficulty.  The  fibre  that  is  at  present 

gro\\n  in   this  country  is  worthless  for  the 
manufacture  of  linen,  and  the  t'.imu T  can 
not  produce   suitable   fibre  without  very 
much   more  trouble  and  labor  than  he  is 
willing  to  give  in  the  present  state  ol  agri 
culture.     That  is  the  whole   trouble,  and 
the   only   trouble,   with   the  flax-growing 
industry,  and  no  amount  of  duty  can  over- 
come it. 

In  order  to  bring  out  this  point  more 
clearly,  it  is  necessary  to  give  a  brief 
account  of  the  methods  of  cultivation 
necessary  tor  the  production  ot  tine  il.ix 
fibre,  and  contrast  them  with  the  agricul- 
tural methods  at  present  in  vogue  in 
America. 

The  finest  flax  in  the  world  is  produced 

in  France  and  Belgium,  and  it  is  generally 

conceded  .that  the  success  of  the  French 

aiul  Hclgi.in  gro\vers  is  largely  due  to  their 

«  P.  996. 


42  FLAX  CULTURE 

methods  of  cultivation.  The  United  States 
Government  in  its  Agricultural  Reports  has 
often  described  the  best  methods  of  flax 
culture,  and  the  substance  of  this  sketch 
is  taken  from  the  Agricultural  Report  for 
1879.  The  report  in  this  volume,  cover- 
ing over  a  hundred  pages,  is  by  Charles 
R.  Dodge.  In  his  letter  transmitting  the 
report  he  says,  "  The  report  has  been  pre- 
pared particularly  with  a  view  of  impress- 
ing upon  our  farmers  at  this  time  the 
importance  of  fibre  cultivation  as  an  ele- 
ment of  farm  practice,  in  the  hopes  that 
languishing  industries  may  be  revived, 
and  new  ones  established.  The  best  prac- 
tice in  regard  to  cultivation  and  prepara- 
tion of  the  fibre  has  been  given." 

Flax  is  peculiarly  susceptible  to  influ- 
ences of  climate  and  soil.  It  requires  a 
moist  climate,  and  for  that  reason  the  low- 
lands of  Holland  and  Belgium  are  well 
adapted  to  flax.  A  moist,  deep,  strong 
loam  forms  the  best  soil.  The  flax  plant 
grows  from  two  to  five  feet  in  height,  and 
het  roots  penetrate  deep  into  the  ground, 


AND   USE  IN  UNITED  STATES.         43 

frequently  extending  as  far  into  the  ground 
as  the  plant  extends  above  it.  The 
ground  must  be  ploughed  deep,  and  well 
pulverized.  The  land  should  be  ploughed 
in  the  fall,  and  in  the  spring  a  second 
ploughing  should  be  followed  by  a  thorough 
harrowing,  and  before  sowing  the  ground 
should  be  ploughed  and  harrowed  again. 
In  Belgium,  the  land  is,  in  addition,  thor- 
oughly trenched  with  a  spade.  Much 
attention  is  given  to  the  manuring  of  the 
land.  In  the  fall,  twenty-five  to  thirty 
loads  of  solid  manure  to  each  acre  are 
ploughed  in,  and  in  the  spring  liquid  ma- 
nure is  applied  to  the  extent  of  twenty- 
five  hundred  gallons  per  acre.1  After  the 
last  harrowing  the  land  is  rolled,  and  then 
gone  over  with  a  hand  bush,  or  wooden, 
harrow  followed  by  a  light  roller,  as  in 
that  condition  of  the  ground  a  heavy 
horse  would  trample  it  down  too  much. 
"The  object  of  the  Belgian  farmer,"  says 
the  Congressional  Commission  of  1863, 
"is  to  obtain  a  deep  and  friable  soil, 

1  Rep.  Dept.  Ag.  1879,  P-  586- 


'44  FLAX  CULTURE 

equally  enriched  throughout,  which  is  only 
accomplished  by  great  care  and  attention. 
The  land  has  the  appearance  of  the  most 
perfect  garden  cultivation."  x 

Much  attention  is  paid  to  the  rotation 
of  crops,  flax  being  rarely  planted  oftener 
than  once  in  seven  or  eight  years  on  the 
same  land.2 

After  the  land  is  prepared,  the  sowing 
must  be  carefully  done.  The  seed  should 
be  sown  in  rows  eight  or  nine  feet  apart, 
and  the  sowing  had  best  be  done  by  hand. 
It  should  be  evenly  sown,  and  much  prac- 
tice is  necessary,  as  the  seed  is  very 
slippery.  The  Belgian  farmers,  who  cul- 
tivate for  fibre,  sow  from  two  to  four 
bushels  of  seed  to  the  acre  ;  the  Ameri- 
can, who  cultivates  chiefly  for  the  seed, 
sows  half  a  bushel  or  three  pecks  to  the 
acre.  Where  the  seed  is  evenly  and 
thickly  sown,  the  plants  grow  tall  and 
slender  without  much  branching  except 
at  the  top,  and  the  fibre  is  thus  long  and 
fine.  Where  the  seed  is  thinly  sown,  the 

1  Kept,  p.  22.          2  Rep.  Dept.  Ag.  1879,  P-  5^5- 


AND   USE  IN  UNITED  STATES.         45 

plant  grows  low  and  bushy,  with  many 
branches  growing1  out  close  to  the  ground.1 
The  fibre  in  such  plants  is  coarse,  weak, 
and  brittle,  and  worthless  for  the  manufac- 
ture of  any  but  the  very  coarsest  fabrics, 
but  the  yield  of  seed  is  large.2 

After  the  sowing,  the  land  should  be 
again  gone  over  with  the  hand-harrow 
and  roller. 

While  the  flax  is  growing,  it  must  be 
carefully  tended  to  remove  all  weeds.  In 
Belgium  the  weeding  is  done  by  hand, 
when  the  plants  are  a  few  inches  high, 
by  women  and  children  who  crawl  about 
on  their  hands  and  knees  with  cloths  to 
protect  them  from  the  ground,  working 
always  towards  the  wind  so  that  the  plants 
may  be  at  once  blown  back  in  an  upright 
position.3  All  writers  agree  that  it  is 
absolutely  essential  to  remove  all  weeds. 
"  Flax  will  not  thrive  in  close  proximity 
to  obnoxious  weeds ;  on  dirty  land  it  will 
prove  a  failure,  or  will  treble  the  expense 

1  Rep.  Dept.  Ag.  1879,  P-  587-      2  Rep.  Dept.  Ag.  1862,  p.  115. 
3  Rep.  Dept.  Ag.  1879,  P-  58?- 


46  FLAX  CULTURE 

of  harvesting,"  says  one.1  "  It  is  a  crop 
that  absolutely  compels  clean  culture," 
says  another,  for  "  weeds  stunt  the  stem 
and  impair  the  fibre."  2  It  is  easy  to  see 
what  a  task  this  imposes  on  the  Ameri- 
can farmer,  with  the  wonderful  reproduc- 
tive power  of  weeds  in  our  fertile  soils. 
Who  has  not  seen  a  field  neglected  for  a 
few  weeks  after  harvest,  so  covered  with 
a  dense  mass  of  bushy  and  clinging  weeds 
that  locomotion  is  seriously  impeded,  and 
the  traveller  struggles  through  to  find  his 
clothing  covered  with  rough  burs  and 
clinging  seeds  ?  All  this  is  utterly  incom- 
patible with  flax  culture.  In  fact,  Mr.  J. 
R.  Dodge,  an  expert  in  flax  culture,  in  a 
report  printed  in  the  Congressional  docu- 
ments of  the  Thirty-eighth  Congress,  says 
that  the  trouble  with  weeds  is  the  promi- 
nent reason  why  flax  is  not  cultivated  in 
the  United  States.  "  The  task  is  too  her- 
culean for  the  industry  and  perseverance 
of  our  farmers,  when  natural  disinclination 

1  Rep.  Dept.  Ag.  1864,  p.  92. 

2  Rep.  Dept.  Ag.  1863,  p.  116. 


AND   USE  IN  UNITED  STATES.         47 

is  combined  with  the  high  price  of  labor." 
He  enumerates  the  various  weeds  that 
afflict  the  flax  grower,  and  quotes  from 
an  old  English  local  poet,  speaking  of 
the  kerlock  weed,  — 

"  But  he  says,  says  'e,  '  It  ain't  no  use 

Vor  to  go  to  a  girt  expense, 
Vor  'twill  come  agen,  whate'er  thee  does, 
Nor  a  year  a  two  from  hence.'  "  J 

The  flax  should  be  harvested  when  the 
leaves  begin  to  fall  and  the  stems  turn 
yellow,  albeit  the  seed  is  not  at  that  time 
fully  ripe.  In  Europe,  the  harvesting  is 
done  by  pulling  the  plant  up  by  the  roots. 
In  this  country  it  is  usually  cut  with  a 
machine.  Pulling  is  essential  to  the  best 
fibre  ;  for,  apart  from  the  fact  that  cutting 
dries  and  injures  the  fibre  and  gathers  the 
weeds,  it  is  said  that  "  one  inch  of  straw 
at  the  base  is  worth  two  at  the  top  of  the 
plant."  The  pulling  is  thus  described  : 
"  When  the  flax  is  standing  erect,  a  hand- 

1  Also  in  Rep.  Dept.  Ag.  1863,  p.  116. 

2  Rep.  Cong.  Com.  p.  24. 


48  FLAX  CULTURE 

ful  should  be  grasped  with  both  hands 
just  below  the  seed-bolls,  and  pulled  ob- 
liquely from  the  ground  with  a  sudden 
jerk,  the  dirt  adhering  to  the  roots  being 
shaken  or  knocked  off  on  the  boot."  x  The 
plants  should  then  be  laid  evenly  on  the 
ground,  and  be  kept  straight  throughout. 

Compare  this  careful  and  tedious  cul- 
ture with  the  methods  that  now  obtain  in 
the  West.  There  flax  is  grown  for  the 
seed,  which  is  used  for  making  linseed- 
oil.  The  seed  is  allowed  to  ripen  fully, 
thereby  injuring  the  fibre.  Mr.  "Hiram 
Sisson,  although  he  represents  himself 
as  not  very  well  acquainted  with  Ameri- 
can flax,  told  the  Tariff  Commission,  "  I 
will  tell  you  what  I  know  about  flax  in 
Illinois  and  Iowa.  There  they  sow  their 
flax  for  the  seed  wholly.  All  they  do  is 
to  plough  the  ground,  sow  their  seed,  and 
mow  the  flax  with  a  machine,  dry  it,  and 
put  it  through  a  machine  that  is  pro- 
pelled by  horse-power,  to  knock  off  the 
seed,  leaving  the  straw  on  the  field." 2  And 

1  Rep.  Dept.  Ag.  1879,  P-  588-      2  ReP-  Tar-  Com->  P-  2Sl- 


AND   USE  IN  UNITED  STATES.         49 

yet  Mr.  Sisson  tried  to  make  the  commis- 
sion believe  that  an  increase  in  duty  would 
bring  this  sort  of  stuff  to  the  flax  market. 
The  linen-manufacturer  can  do  nothing 
with  this  straw  that  is  sold  by  the  load, 
like  hay  in  a  tangled  bulk  of  fibre,  pitched 
on  the  load  loose  as  it  comes.  In  some 
sections  it  can't  be  sold  at  any  price,  and 
in  such  case  is  burned  to  get  rid  of  it.1 

Mr.  H.  H.  Stevens,  of  Lexington,  Ky., 
who  appeared  before  the  Tariff  Commis- 
sion in  behalf  of  free  flax  machinery,  said, 
"  It  is  the  handling  of  the  stalk  that  makes 
or  mars  the  fibre.  An  Englishman  some 
thirty  years  ago  said  of  American  flax, 
*  They  handle  it  like  hay.'  It  is  the  same 
to-day."  2 

The  Congressional  Commission  of  1863, 
in  summing  up  the  situation  in  this  coun- 
try, say,  "  The  raising  of  marketable  flax 
for  long  line,  imposes  too  many  burdens  on 
the  grower,  and  is  produced  at  too  great  a 
sacrifice  of  seed,  to  warrant  at  present  its 
extensive  cultivation  in  this  country.  .  .  . 

1  Rep.  Dept.  Ag.  1879,  P-  572<        2  Rep«  Tar.  Com.,  p.  1948. 


50  FLAX  CULTURE 

It  seems  to  be  better  adapted  to  countries 
of  humid  climate,  and  of  comparatively 
small  areas  of  cultivation,  subdivided 
among  a  dense  population,  accustomed 
to  cheap  hand  labor." '  It  is  submitted 
that  this  is  equally  true  to-day. 

The  flax  is,  however,  by  no  means  ready 
for  market  when  it  is  pulled  from  the 
ground.  The  flax  of  the  arts  is  the  fibre 
between  the  outer  bark  and  the  inner 
woody  pith  of  the  plant ;  and  several 
tedious  processes,  requiring  skill  and  ex- 
perience, are  necessary  to  separate  the 
fibre  from  the  wood  and  bark.  Most  of 
this  work  must  be  done  by  the  farmer, 
before  his  product  is  marketable,  partly 
because  much  of  the  work  can  only  be 
done  by  hand,  and  partly  because,  in  our 
vast  country,  the  flax-mills  are  too  far 
away  to  warrant  the  shipment  of  the  bulky 
flax  straw.  A  brief  review  of  these  pro- 
cesses is  necessary  to  a  clear  understand- 
ing. 

The  plants  must  not  be  allowed  to  lie  on 

1  Rep.  Cong.  Com.,  p.  5*. 


AND   USE  IN  UNITED  STATES.         51 

the  ground,  but  must  be  at  once  gathered 
into  sheaves,  and  stacked,  as  the  fibre  may 
be  injured  by  the  heat  of  the  sun,  or  the 
seed  by  dampness.  When  the  seed  is  dry, 
the  next  process  is  "  rippling,"  or  remov- 
ing the  seed.  This  can  be  done  by  hand 
or  by  machine,  care  being  taken  to  keep 
the  stalks  straight.  This,  of  course,  pre- 
vents the  use  of  the  threshing-machine, 
and  consequently  the  small  farmer  must 
do  it  by  hand. 

The  next  process,  which  is  termed  "  ret- 
ting "  or  rotting,  is  the  one  by  which  the 
fibre  is  so  loosened  from  the  wood,  as  to 
be  easily  removable.1  The  process  requires 
great  skill  and  experience,  and,  if  unskil- 
fully done,  will  injure  or  entirely  ruin  the 
fibre.  The  retting  is  a  fermentation  of 
the  gummy  substance  that  binds  the  fibre 
to  the  wood,  and  is  accomplished  by  ex- 
posure of  the  flax  to  the  dew  in  the  fields, 
or  by  immersing  it  in  water.  The  former 
process  is  the  most  common  in  this  coun- 

1  See  Rep.  Dept.  Ag.  1879,  PP-  5^9~59O,  for  a  more  detailed 
account  of  this  process. 


52  FLAX  CULTURE 

try,  as  requiring  less  labor  and  trouble  ; 
but  the  latter  process  is  used  abroad,  and 
is  the  only  process  by  which  really  good 
flax  can  be  made.  The  flax  must  be  kept 
entirely  under  water,  and  yet  must  not 
rest  on  the  bottom.  Soft  water  is  the 
best,  in  ponds  or  slowly  running  streams. 
Retting  pools  are  constructed,  twelve  or 
more  feet  long,  six  feet  wide,  and  four  feet 
deep.  The  flax  is  laid  carefully  in  rows, 
with  the  roots  all  pointing  one  way.  In 
a  short  time  fermentation  sets  in,  and 
bubbles  of  foul-smelling  gases  rise  to  the 
surface.  This  process  occupies  from  five 
to  ten  days,  according  to  the  weather, 
coarse  fibre  taking  longer  than  fine.  The 
retting  should  be  carefully  watched,  and 
when  thought  to  be  completed,  the  flax 
should  be  tested  every  few  hours,  as  the 
change  for  the  worse  is  very  rapid.  If 
the  retting  continues  too  long,  the  fibre  is 
rendered  weak  and  cottony ;  if  not  long 
enough,  it  is  dry  and  coarse,  and  much 
of  it  is  knocked  away  in  the  later  pro- 
cesses. The  flax  is  then  removed  from 


AND    USE  IN  UNITED  STATES.         53 

the  pools,  and  in  this  operation  too  much 
care  cannot  be  used.  Hooks  or  pitch- 
forks injure  the  fibre,  and  the  bundles 
must  be  handed  out  by  a  man  standing 
in  the  now  disgusting  pool.  In  fact,  the 
water  in  the  pool  forms  an  excellent  liquid 
manure,  and  is  sometimes  strong  enough 
to  kill  fish,  when  allowed  to  escape  into 
the  stream.  The  bundles  are  drained  on 
the  bank,  and  then  carefully  spread  out  to 
dry,  evenly  and -thinly  over  the  grass,  the 
flax  being  occasionally  turned  with  long 
wooden  poles.  When  the  plant  is  thor- 
oughly dry,  it  is  again  gathered  into 
bundles  and  housed. 

It  is  evident  that  this  retting  process 
requires  great  care  and  skill.  Repeated 
attempts  have  been  made  to  expedite  the 
process  with  hot  water  or  steam,  but  none 
have  been  successful,  or  able  to  supply  the 
place  of  water  retting.  Much  of  the  value 
of  the  flax  depends  on  the  retting,  and  the 
quality  of  the  water  used  has  much  to  do 
with  the  success  of  the  operation.  Thus 
flax  retted  in  the  river  Lys  in  Belgium 


54  FLAX  CULTURE 

brings  twenty-five  per  cent  more  in  price 
than  flax  grown  on  equally  fertile  soil  and 
retted  in  France.  There  is  no  other  place 
in  Europe  where  the  same  quality  is  ob- 
tained, and  it  is  not  improbable  that  there 
is  no  water  in  America  that  has  the  pecul- 
iar chemical  qualities  of  the  Lys.1 

The  next  process  in  the  preparation  of 
the  flax  for  market  is  the  "scutching,"  or 
removal  of  the  woody  pith.  This  is  accom- 
plished by  breaking  and  beating  the  flax, 
when  the  wood  drops  out,  and  the  fibre  is 
left.  This  may  be  done  by  hand  or  by 
machine.  The  operation,  when  performed 
by  hand,  is  very  dirty  and  disagreeable, 
but  is  a  necessity  unless  there  is  a  flax-mill 
close  by,  as  the  scutching  machine  is  an 
expensive  piece  of  machinery. 

The  last  process  is  the  "  hackling,"  a 
combing  process,  by  which  the  chaff  and 
short  tow  are  removed,  and  the  long,  clean 
flax  fibre  left  ready  for  spinning.  This 
process  also  is  performed  either  by  hand 
or  machine,  but  mostly  by  hand,  even  in 
large  mills. 

1  Rep.  Tar.  Com.,  p.  1526. 


AND   USE  IN  UNITED  STATES.         55 

The  reasons  why  the  American  farmer 
does  not  grow  fine  flax  are  now  apparent. 
The  farmer  who  has  sufficient  intelligence 
to  cultivate  flax,  does  not  care  to  send  his 
wife  and  children  to  weed  the  flax  field  on 
hands  and  knees.  He  himself  is  accus- 
tomed to  do  his  farming  with  improved 
machinery.  He  ploughs,  sows,  reaps,  binds, 
threshes,  etc.,  all  by  machine.  Labor  is 
expensive,  and  he  cannot  afford,  nor  is  he 
accustomed,  to  employ  sufficient  sailed 
labor  to  go  into  a  culture  that  requires  so 
much  hand-work.  Nor  does  he  have  the 
time  or  patience  to  acquire  the  special 
knowledge  and  manipulative  skill  of  the 
manufacturer.  These  difficulties  have  been 
repeatedly  stated  in  the  Agricultural  Re- 
ports. For  instance,  here  is  a  quotation 
from  the  Report  of  the  Department  of 
Agriculture  in  1864  :  "  But  flax  growing  in 
this  country  has  its  drawbacks  at  the  pres- 
ent time.  First,  the  farmer  lives  thirty 
miles  or  upwards  from  where  he  could  bring 
his  flax  to  market :  what  is  he  to  do  in  the 
event  of  growing  such  a  crop  ?  Where  is 


56  FLAX  CULTURE 

he  to  get  it  broke  or  scutched  ?  Should 
he  contract  with  a  man  coming  along  with 
his  machine,  who  works  for  him,  he  must 
submit  to  his  exorbitant  charge  which 
would  take  away  half  the  profit  of  his  crop. 
This  is  not  all.  Although  his  flax  has  got 
into  small  bulk  by  scutching,  even  if  he 
has  to  send  a  great  distance  to  market,  he 
is  still  at  the  mercy  of  the  buyer,  who  prob- 
ably would  tell  him  that  it  got  too  much 
rotting,  find  some  other  faults,  and  finally 
say  it  would  not  suit  him.  The  farmer 
gets  bewildered,  thinks  of  the  long  jour- 
ney home,  calculates  his  expenses,  offers 
his  flax  at  a  reduced  price  sooner  than 
bring  it  back,  and  lastly  will  sicken  of  flax 
growing."  J 

The  same  thing  is  said  more  in  detail  in 
the  Report  for  1877:  "  Among  the  obsta- 
cles in  the  way  of  profitably  growing  the 
fibre  are  the  following:  First,  the  want  of 
a  regular  and  accessible  market.  Second, 
the  labor  involved  in  pulling  flax  on  a 
large  scale  is  greater  than  can  be  secured 

1  Rep.  Dept.  Ag.  1864,  p.  183. 


AND   USE  IN  UNITED  STATES.         57 

at  the  proper  season  at  wages  which  will 
leave  any  margin  of  profit.  Third,  the 
process  of  '  rotting  *  or  eliminating  the 
fibre  from  the  stalk  in  the  old-fashioned 
way  is  tedious,  and  thought  to  be  un- 
healthy. Fourth,  most  farmers  do  not  suf- 
ficiently understand  the  rotting  part  of  this 
process,  and  are  therefore  very  liable  to 
injure  the  fibre  by  some  failure  either  in 
method  or  degree.  Fifth,  the  processes 
of  breaking,  scutching,  or  hackling  by 
hand  are  very  disagreeable,  necessarily 
involving  the  operator  in  an  atmosphere 
thick  with  dust  and  dirt,  and  yet  requiring 
skilled  workmen,  such  as  it  is  often  quite 
impracticable  to  secure."1  "In  the  Ohio 
Valley  there  is  objection  to  flax  on  the 
score  of  injury  to  the  soil.  *  It  is  hard  on 
the  land,'  is  a  common  remark  of  corre- 
spondents."2 

Besides  all  this,  American  flax  is  seldom 
prepared  twice  alike.  No  two  growers 
seem  to  seek  the  same  standard.  In 

1  Rep.  Dept.  Ag.  1877,  p.  183. 

2  Rep.  Dept.  Ag.  1885,  p.  417. 


58  FLAX  CULTURE 

Russia,  on  the  other  hand,  all  flax  ex- 
ported is  subjected  to  government  in- 
spection, which  establishes  regular  and 
uniform  grades  of  flax.  The  manufac- 
turer, therefore,  prefers  the  imported  flax, 
though  it  costs  a  third  more.1  The  Report 
for  1879  emphasizes  the  point  that  flax 
culture  "  is,  in  one  sense,  a  trade  to  be 
thoroughly  learned,  and  followed  after  it 
is  acquired." 

The  question  naturally  arises,  that  if 
this  is  all  true,  why  is  it  that  the  Flax  and 
Hemp  Spinners  and  Growers'  Association 
persist  in  asking  for  the  retention  of  the 
duty?  This  question  can  receive  no  satis- 
factory answer.  A  hint  may  perhaps  be 
gotten  from  some  of  the  testimony  before 
the  Tariff  Commission. 

We  have  already  had  some  instructive 
quotations  from  the  testimony  of  Mr. 
Hiram  Sisson,  who  represented  the  flax- 
growing  industry.  As  a  grower,  his 
evidence  is  of  value. 

1  Rep.  Dept.  Ag.  1879,  p.  573. 


AND   USE  IN  UNITED  STATES.         59 

Q.  How  much  duty  are  you  asking  to  be  put  on 
imported  flax? 

A.  The  duty  is  $20  a  ton  now.  We  only  ask 
to  increase  it  to  $30  a  ton.  On  what  is  called 
hackled  flax,  it  is  now  $40  a  ton,  and  we  want  that 
increased  to  $50  a  ton.  This  is  a  kind  of  compromise 
between  the  manufacturers  and  the  growers  of  flax. 
We  have  already  agreed  to  this  arrangement,  so  that 
it  will  give  them  a  little  protection  and  us  a  little. 

Q.  This  increase  of  duty,  $10  a  ton,  which  you 
ask,  you  assume  would  bring  this  flax  that  is  now 
burned  to  the  manufacturer? 

A.  It  would  be  a  help  in  that  direction,  although 
it  would  not  be  very  much  help.  All  the  flax  that 
comes  in  here  from  foreign  countries  would,  under 
such  an  increase  of  duty,  cost  the  manufacturers  a 
half  a  cent  a  pound  more  than  it  does  now. 

Q.  That  is  to  say,  $10  a  ton  additional  duty 
would  enable  the  manufacturers  to  buy  American 
flax  to  advantage  ? 

A.  It  would  help.  We  would  like  to  have  the 
duty  more,  but  I  don't  know  that  we  can  get  that 
done.1 

It  is  unnecessary  to  point  out  what  non- 
sense this  all  is  ;  but  the  instructive  thing 
about  it  is  that  the  Flax  and  Hemp  Spin- 

1  Rep.  Tar.  Com.,  pp.  283,  284. 


60  FLAX  CULTURE 

tiers'  Association  favor  protection  for  that 
somewhat  mythical  personage,  the  grower 
of  flax  fibre,  on  account  of  a  compromise 
arrangement  by  which  their  own  protec- 
tion is  secured. 

The  American  Flax  and  Hemp  Spinners' 
and  Growers'  Association  would  have  in- 
creased the  surplus  in  the  treasury  by 
$58,825  in  1887  if  this  increase  had  been 
adopted,  and  they  are  unable  to  show  any 
benefit  to  accrue  from  this  tax  to  any 
domestic  interest.  Even  Mr.  Sisson  ad- 
mits that  "  it  would  not  be  much  help." 
If,  then,  an  increase  of  fifty  per  cent  in  the 
duty  on  raw  flax  "  would  not  be  much 
help,"  why  retain  the  present  duty,  which, 
so  far  as  can  be  ascertained,  is  no  help  at 
all? 

There  are  linen-manufacturers,  however, 
not  connected  with  the  Spinners'  and 
Growers'  Association,  and  not,  therefore, 
under  the  spell  of  such  sophistry ;  and  a 
most  fitting  summing-up  of  this  whole 
discussion  is  to  be  found  in  the  recom- 
mendations and  suggestions  to  the  Tariff 


AND   USE  IN  UNITED  STATES.         6 1 

Commission,  of  Messrs.  Finlayson,  Bous- 
field,  &  Co.,  flax  spinners  at  Grafton, 
Mass.  They  say  in  substance  : x  — 

1.  Flax  is  not  grown  in  America  to  any 
extent  for  textile  manufacturing  purposes. 
The  bulk  of  it  is  produced  only  for  seed, 
the  fibre  being  destroyed.     None  is  pro- 
duced of  a  quality  high  enough  for  fine 
linen  thread  or  yarns. 

2.  The  manufacture  of  linen   does   not 
receive  any  encouragement  by  having  raw 
material  of  sufficient  quality  grown  on  the 
spot.     It  would  not  develop,  but  cease  to 
exist,  unless  supplied  with  material   from 
abroad. 

3.  The    development    of    the    manufac- 
ture   is   the    only  means    of  encouraging 
the    production    of    superior    flax.      The 
market  must  be.  created  for  the  farmer,  or 
he  will  not  attempt  the  growth  of  a  crop 
requiring  care  and  skill. 

4.  The    manufacture  of  linen  can   best 
be    encouraged    by    the    introduction    of 

1  Rep.  Tar.  Com.,  p.  1526. 


62  FLAX  CULTURE 

the  raw  material,  whether  dressed  or  un- 
dressed, free  of  duty  ;  and  with  this  devel- 
opment the  farmer  will  in  time  find  a 
profitable  market  open  to  him. 

5.  The  quality  of  the  fibre  is  so  depend- 
ent on  favorable  conditions  of  soil,  climate, 
and  water,  that  it  is  questionable  if  any 
one  country  can  produce  the  entire  range 
of  qualities  of  flax  necessary  for  the  manu- 
facture of  linen  thread  and  fine  linen. 

6.  Even  under  the  most  favorable  cir- 
cumstances, many  years  must  elapse  before 
the  American  farmer  can  acquire  the  requi- 
site skill  to  produce  fine  flax. 

7.  The  manufacturers  must  have  quality 
at  any  cost. 

This  admirable  summary,  made  by  intel- 
ligent manufacturers,  states  the  whole  sit- 
uation, and  suggests  the  true  remedy  for 
the  existing  difficulties.  The  Western 
farmer  does  not  raise  flax  for  fibre,  because 
he  has  no  market  for  it,  the  few  flax-mills 
being  all  in  a  narrow  compass  on  the 
Eastern  seaboard  ;  and  the  fate  of  the 


AND    USE  IN  UNITED  STATES.         63 

American  Linen  Company,  the  Williman- 
tic  Linen  Company,  and  other  concerns 
of  large  capital,  which  failed  in  an  attempt 
to  manufacture  linens,  largely  on  account 
of  their  inability  to  get  cheap  raw  material, 
is  a  sufficient  warning  to  any  but  the  bold- 
est, not  to  establish  any  more  linen-mills 
here.  The  farmer  does  not  raise  flax,  be- 
cause there  is  no  home-market  for  it,  and 
there  are  few  mills  to  create  a  market. 
If  the  duty  on  raw  flax  of  every  descrip- 
tion were  wholly  removed,  a  stimulus 
would  be  given  to  the  linen-manufacture 
in  America ;  competition  would  then  be 
encouraged,  and  the  consequent  demand 
for  flax  would  be  an  incentive  to  the 
farmer  that  no  duty  can  supply.  With 
flax-mills  springing  up  in  all  sections  of 
the  country,  a  ready  market  would  be  pro- 
vided for  the  farmer.  His  attention  is 
more  likely  to  be  directed  to  the  niceties 
of  flax  culture,  should  he  receive  the  direct 
encouragement  of  domestic  manufacturers 
to  grow  fine  flax.  At  any  rate,  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  see  what  interest  will  be  injured 


64  FLAX  CULTURE 

by  the  removal  of  the  duty  on  raw  flax, 
dressed  and  undressed. 

In  spite  of  the  present  duty,  the  linen 
industry  of  America,  having  an  invested 
capital  of  ten  millions,  imports  annually 
nearly  two  million  dollars  worth  of  the 
raw  material,  and  from  that  source  the 
surplus  in  the  treasury  was  increased  by 
over  a  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars 
in  1887  ;  and  yet  the  production  of  Ameri- 
can fibre  is  steadily  falling  off.  Instead  of 
manufacturing  our  own  linen  goods,  we 
are  importing  over  fifteen  million  dollars 
worth  per  annum.  How  much  of  this 
could  be  manufactured  in  this  country  if 
the  manufacturers  could  import  their  raw 
material  of  every  kind,  free  of  duty,  may 
be  left  for  future  determination.  With  the 
present  duty  on  raw  flax,  however,  it  is 
idle  to  expect  the  manufacturer  to  risk  his 
capital  in  an  enterprise  where  so  many 
wealthy  corporations  have  failed. 

Enough  has  been  said  to  show  the  bur- 
den of  this  tax  on  the  domestic  manufac- 
turer, and  its  uselessness,  nay,  direct 


AND    USE  IN  UNITED   STATES.         6$ 

injury,  to  the  grower ;  but  a  few  words 
more  are  necessary  in  defining  what  is 
raw  flax.  A  curious  distinction  was  in- 
vented in  1870,  between  the  "  scutched  " 
flax,  from  which  the  woody  fibre  has  been 
revoved  by  hand  or  machine,  and  the 
"  hackled"  flax,  which  has  undergone  a 
further  process  of  combing  to  remove  the 
chaff  and  tow.  For  some  unexplained 
reason,  the  duty  on  "hackled"  flax  is 
double  that  on  the  "  scutched "  product. 
It  can  hardly  be  because  one  is  regarded 
as  a  manufactured  product ;  as  both  have 
been  subjected  to  mechanical  operations, 
differing  only  in  degree. 

It  is  not  easy  to  frame  a  definition  of 
' 'raw  material"  to  cover  all  cases;  but  it 
may  be  roughly  defined  as  material  that 
requires  some  further  mechanical  process 
to  fit  it  for  use  by  the  consumer,  it  being 
of  no  use  to  the  consumer  in  its  existing 
condition.  Under  this  definition,  flax  is 
still  raw  material  until  it  is  manufactured 
into  thread,  or  yarn  at  least.  This  defini- 
tion applies  equally  well  to  cotton  and 


66  FLAX  CULTURE 

silk,  and  no  one  ever  thought  of  calling 
ginned  cotton  a  manufactured  product,  to 
be  taxed  at  a  rate  different  from  unginned. 
In  fact,  to  draw  a  rough  parallel  between 
flax  and  cotton,  if  it  were  the  custom  to 
gather  the  cotton-plant,  the  removal  of 
the  fibre  from  the  boll  would  correspond 
to  the  "  scutching  ; "  and  the  ginning,  which 
removes  the  seed,  to  the  subsequent 
"  hackling."  Yet  ginned  cotton  is  univer- 
sally admitted  to  be  a  raw  material.  So, 
too,  with  silk ;  the  eggs  of  the  silkworm, 
the  cocoons,  the  silk  reeled  from  the  co- 
coon, are  all  admitted  free  of  duty.  In 
the  tariff  of  1846,  a  duty  of  fifteen  per 
cent  was  imposed  on  reeled  silk,  while  the 
cocoons  were  admitted  free,  but  that  need- 
less distinction  has  long  ago  been  repealed. 
The  maintenance  of  this  distinction  be- 
tween "  scutched  "  and  "  hackled  "  flax 
can  only  be  a  burden  on  the  manufac- 
turer. It  were  just  as  reasonable  to 
compel  the  Northern  cotton-mill  to  gin  its 
cotton,  as  to  force  every  American  flax- 
mill  to  hackle  European  flax. 


AND    USE  IN  UNITED  STATES.         6/ 

The  foregoing  considerations  should  be 
sufficient  to  convince  the  candid  reader 
that  the  proposal  to  place  flax  on  the 
"free  list"  is  a  reasonable  one.  The  re- 
moval of  duties  on  raw  flax  will  be  an  in- 
centive to  the  linen  industry  in  America, 
that  free-traders  and  protectionists  can 
alike  welcome.  To  retain  the  duty  on 
flax  of  any  kind,  is  not  protection. 


FLAX   CULTURE   AS   INFLUENCED 
BY   LEGISLATION. 


IT  has  been  said  that  the  present  pros- 
perous condition  of  the  flax  and  linen 
industries  in  Great  Britain  is  due  to  the 
careful  legislative  protection  granted  to 
those  industries  a  hundred  years  ago  when 
they  were  in  their  infancy ;  and  that  the 
maintenance  of  the  duty  on  flax  will  have 
a  similar  tendency  to  build  up  the  linen 
industry  in  America.  The  foregoing  pages 
of  this  volume  are  a  sufficient  answer  to 
this  assertion  ;  but  it  will  be  of  value  to 
sketch  more  in  detail  the  legislative  pro- 
tection and  encouragement  that  has  been 
given  flax  growing  in  Great  Britain,  and 
contrast  with  it  the  very  similar  measures 
that  have  from  time  to  time  been  adopted 
in  the  various  Colonies  in  America.  Vari- 
ous statutes  are  cited  at  length  in  order 
to  show  the  extent  of  legislative  care,  and 


AS  INFLUENCED  BY  LEGISLATION.    69 

they  are  well  worth  reading.  The  facts  as 
to  the  history  in  America  are  taken  mainly 
from  Bishop's  "  History  of  American  Man- 
ufactures," a  standard  work  published  in 
1 86 1.  The  source  of  the  information  as 
to  Great  Britain  is  the  work  of  a  Scotch 
linen  merchant,  Alex.  J.  Warden,  entitled 
"  The  Linen  Trade,  Ancient  and  Modern  " 
(London,  1864). 

GREAT  BRITAIN. 

By  the  statute  of  24  Henry  VIII.,  chap. 
4,  in  1532,  it  was  enacted  that, — 

"Every  person  having  in  his  occupation  threescore 
acres  of  land  apt  for  tillage,  shall  sow  one  rood  with 
flax  or  hemp-seed,  upon  pain  to  forfeit  three  shillings 
fourpence  for  every  forty  acres." 

And  elsewhere  fines  paid  for  non-com- 
pliance with  this  law  are  recorded.  In 
1562  this  statute  was  re-enacted,  with  the 
amount  of  land  to  be  sown  in  flax  increased 
to  an  acre,  and  the  penalty  to  five  pounds  ; 
and  it  was  not  until  1593,  after  sixty  years 
of  protection,  that  these  statutes  were  re- 
pealed, because  they  failed  to  accomplish 


70  FLAX  CULTURE 

the  desired  result.  In  1668,  almost  a  hun- 
dred years  after,  "  England  was  almost 
wholly  supplied  with  linens  from  France."  ' 
In  1731  Parliament  passed  an  Act  that  may 
be  commended  to  modern  legislators, 
preamble  and  all.  It  is  entitled,  — 

"  An  Act  for  further  encouraging  the  manufacture 
of  British  sailcloth. 

"  Whereas  the  wealth  and  prosperity  of  this  king- 
dom does  very  much  depend  upon  the  preservation 
and  improvement  of  its  manufactures,  and  whereas 
the  manufacture  of  sailcloth  does  give  a  comfortable 
support  ...  to  many  of  his  Majesty's  subjects  em- 
ployed in  the  same,  and  there  is  reason  to  believe  that 
it  would  be  greatly  improved  in  this  kingdom,  and 
the  exportation  of  it  to  foreign  ports  considerably 
increased,  if  the  duties  payable  upon  the  importation 
of  rough  and  undressed  flax  .  .  .  were  taken  off; 
therefore  ...  be  it  enacted  .  .  .  That  from  and  after 
the  24th  day  of  June,  1731,  it  shall  and  may  be  lawful 
for  any  person  or  persons  whatsoever  to  import  into 
this  kingdom  any  quantity  of  rough  or  undressed  flax, 
without  paying  any  subsidy,  custom,  imposition,  or 
other  duty  whatsoever  for  the  same." 

Thus  it  appears,  that,  at  the  time  when 
England  was  maintaining  a  protective  tariff, 

1  The  Linen  Trade,  p.  363. 


A  S  INFL  UENCED  B  Y  LEG  IS  LA  TION.     J I 

it  was  deemed  important  to  admit  raw  flax 
free  of  duty.  Section  four  of  the  same 
Act  increased  the  bounty  on  sailcloth  ex- 
ported. The  cultivation  of  flax  was,  how- 
ever, not  neglected  by  Parliament ;  for  in 
1766  the  sum  of  ,£15,000  annually  ($75,- 
ooo)  was  set  apart  from  the  import  duties 
on  linen  "  as  a  fund  for  the  encourage- 
ment of  raising  and  dressing  hemp  and 
flax  in  this  kingdom."  Three  years  later 
this  amount  of  ,£15,000  was  apportioned, 
,£8,000  to  England,  and  ,£7,000  to  Scot- 
land. The  amount  for  England  was  in- 
creased in  1781,  by  stat.  21,  Geo.  III., 
chap.  58,  §  3,  — 

"  That  for  the  encouragement  of  the  growth  of  hemp 
and  flax  in  ...  England  there  shall  be  applied  .  .  • 
in  bounties  yearly  a  sum  not  exceeding ,£15,000,  .  .  . 
at  the  rate  of  fourpence  per  stone  for  every  stone  of 
flax  weighing  fourteen  pounds  to  be  raised  in  ... 
England  in  the  year  1782,  and  in  every  subsequent 
year,  for  the  space  of  five  years,  and  which  shall  be 
broken  and  properly  prepared  for  market." 

This  munificent  appropriation  should 
have  increased  the  production  of  flax  ;  but 


72  FLAX  CULTURE 

Mr.  Warden  states  that  for  fifteen  years 
no  one  claimed  a  premium  in  England, 
and  but  few  in  Scotland  ;  and  he  cites  as 
his  authority  the  thirteenth  Report  of  the 
Commissioners  for  Examining  the  Public 
Accounts,  dated  March  18,  1785.* 

Compulsion  and  bounties  have  alike 
been  unavailing  to  turn  the  attention  of  the 
English  farmer  to  flax-growing ;  and  Mr. 
Warden,  writing  in  1864,  says1  that  "at 
the  present  time,  the  quantity  of  flax  grown 
in  England  is  insignificantly  small.  Many 
counties  produce  none  at  all.  Dorset 
.  .  .  and  a  few  others  grow  small  quanti- 
ties, and  in  certain  portions  of  Yorkshire 
a  little  more  attention  is  paid  to  the  culti- 
vation ;  and  although  the  quality  of  what 
is  raised  is  good,  the  quantity  is  very 
much  less  than  it  ought  to  be."  He  goes 
on  to  quote  from  the  annual  report  of 
Mr.  Baker,  a  factory  inspector,  who  says, 
"  We  can  neither  produce  from  abroad  (?) 
nor  induce  our  farmers  to  grow  the  raw 
material  in  sufficient  quantity.  The  same 

1  P-  372.  '  pp.  378,  379- 


AS  INFLUENCED  BY  LEGISLATION.      73 

complaint  is  made  in  the  Federal  States 
of  America,  where  the  production  has  fallen 
off  enormously."  This  reads  much  like 
the  quotations  from  our  own  agricultural 
reports.  Of  Scotland  Mr.  Warden  says,1 
"  At  one  period  a  very  large  quantity  of 
flax  was  raised  in  Scotland ;  but  the  culti- 
vation has  gradually  decreased,  until  it  is 
now  all  but  extinct  in  many  counties.  In 
1812  about  5,000  acres  were  grown,  worth, 
at  £20  an  acre,  ,£100,000.  In  1834  great 
complaints  were  made  about  the  growth 
of  flax  at  home  having  ceased."  He  adds 
the  following  statement  of  the  decrease  in 
acreage  of  flax  in  Scotland  :  — 


ACRES 
YEAR.  IN  FLAX. 

1854  .  .  .       6,670 

1855  .  .  .       3,461 


ACRES 
YEAR.  IN  FLAX. 

1856  .  .  .       2,723 

1857  .         .         .     1,534 


Like  American  writers,  Mr.  Warden  de- 
plores this  decrease  in  flax-growing,  proves 
the  profitableness  of  the  crop,  and  urges 
the  farmer  to  an  increased  production  of 
flax. 

This  brief  review  of  the  history  of  flax- 

1  P-  439- 


74  FLAX  CULTURE 

growing  in  England  and  Scotland  strength- 
ens the  position  taken  in  the  body  of  the 
book,  that  flax-growing  for  fibre  is  a  trade 
to  be  learned,  and  cannot  be  successfully 
followed  without  much  care-taking  and 
patience.  The  British  and  American 
farmers  dislike  the  trade  ;  and  compulsion, 
bounties,  and  duties  are  none  of  them 
sufficient  to  induce  a  general  cultivation. 

Whether  or  not  the  various  bounties 
and  duties  on  linens  stimulated  the  pro- 
duction of  cloth,  and  contributed  to  the 
present  status  of  the  linen  industry  in 
Great  Britain,  is  a  question  outside  the 
present  inquiry.  We  are  now  concerned 
merely  with  the  inquiry  as  to  the  effect 
of  bounties  and  duties  on  flax-growing, 
and  it  is  certain  that  at  the  present  day 
the  British  linen-mills  are  largely  supplied 
with  the  raw  material  imported  from  for- 
eign countries. 

In  Ireland  the  course  of  development 
was  somewhat  different.  The  climate  there 
is  well  adapted  to  the  growing  of  flax  and 
the  bleaching  of  linen  ;  but  the  linen  indus- 


A  S  INFL  UENCED  B  Y  LEG  I  SLA  TION.     7  5 

try  there  has  been  stimulated  by  the  course 
of  the  English  Government,  in  vigorously 
discouraging  all  other  branches  of  manu- 
facture except  linen.  At  the  end  of  the 
seventeenth  century  Parliament  restricted 
the  exportation  of  all  woollen  goods  from 
Ireland  except  to  England,  where  pro- 
hibitory duties  were  laid  on  their  importa- 
tion. This  action  ruined  the  woollen  trade 
in  Ireland.  Several  thousand  manufac- 
turers left  the  kingdom,  and  some  of  the 
southern  and  western  districts  were  almost 
depopulated.1  The  course  of  England  was 
doubtless  influenced  by  the  fact  that  the 
Protestants  in  the  North  of  Ireland  were 
engaged  in  the  linen  industry,  while  the 
Catholic  part  of  the  population  was  mostly 
engaged  in  other  industries.  About  this 
time  an  Act  of  Parliament  allowed  flax  and 
linen  produced  in  Ireland  to  be  imported 
into  England  free  of  duty  (stat.  7,  8,  Wil- 
liam III.,  chap.  39).  This  stimulated  the 
growth  of  flax ;  and  for  several  years 
,£20,000  was  appropriated  annually  to 

1  The  Linen  Trade,  p.  391. 


76 


FLAX  CULTURE 


encourage  the  industry.  Much  was  done 
by  way  of  bounties,  but  mostly  for  the 
production  of  linen  cloths  ;  yet  for  some 
reason  no  mill  for  the  spinning1  and 
weaving  of  linen  by  machinery  was  erected 
in  Ireland  until  some  forty  years  after 
similar  mills  had  been  put  in  operation  in 
England.1 

This  generous  assistance  from  the  gov- 
ernment, continued  for  more  than  a  hun- 
dred years,  does  not  seem  to  have  been 
entirely  successful.  Mr.  Warden  gives 
tables  showing  the  acreage  of  flax  in  Ire- 
land, and  also  the  imports  of  raw  flax, 
which  are  worth  summarizing  :  — 


YEARS. 
1815 
1820 
1825 


ACRES  SOWN. 
148,124 
148,584 


YEARS. 
1850 

1855 

1860 


ACRES  SOWN. 
91,040 

•  97,075 

•  128,595 


The    imports    of  raw  flax   into    Belfast 
were  as  follows  :  — 


YEAR. 
l848 
1851 
1854 


TONS. 
4,665 

7^55 
8,986 


YEAR. 
1858   . 
1862    . 


TONS. 

7,816 
10,965 


The  Linen  Trade,  p.  404. 


AS  I  NFL  UENCED  B  Y  LEG  I  SLA  TION.      77 

Mr.  Warden  goes  on  to  say  that  "  the 
linen  trade  in  Ireland  has  progressed  very 
rapidly  of  late  years,  but  it  might  have 
extended  still  faster  had  the  supply  of  the 
raw  material  been  more  abundant."  "  The 
great  hindrance  to  the  more  extensive  cul- 
tivation of  flax,"  he  says,  "  is  the  ignorance 
and  prejudice  of  the  farmers."  He  rec- 
ommends the  spinners  and  merchants  to 
take  action  to  instruct  the  farmers,  and 
root  out  their  prejudices,  and  quotes  from 
the  "Trade  Circular"  for  1862,  that  the 
want  of  a  low-priced  scutching-machine 
is  a  serious  obstacle  to  flax  culture. 
"  Surely,"  he  says,  "  the  intelligence,  the 
skill,  and  the  wealth  of  Ireland,  will 
speedily  overcome  this  difficulty,  and  pro- 
duce a  low-priced,  portable  scutching-ma- 
chine that  will  do  the  work  cheaply,  yet 
efficiently."  This  all  reads  like  an  agri- 
cultural report  of  the  United  States,  or  an 
annual  report  of  the  Flax  and  Hemp  Spin- 
ners' and  Growers'  Association ;  but  it 
hardly  bears  out  the  theory  that  an  import 
duty  on  raw  flax  will  induce  or  encourage 


78  FLAX  CULTURE 

farmers  to  raise  flax  for  fibre,  or  justify 
those  who  are  clamoring  for  the  reten- 
tion of  the  duty  on  flax,  in  pointing  to 
the  success  of  English  protective  meas- 
ures in  supplying  the  home-market  with 
domestic  flax.  It  is  a  consideration  worthy 
of  note  also,  that,  in  spite  of  this  govern- 
mental protection  to  linen  in  Ireland,  flax- 
growing  has  not  enriched  the  people  who, 
under  the  fostering  care  of  England,  have 
become  almost  a  nation  of  paupers. 

THE  UNITED  STATES. 

This  digression  into  the  history  of  flax- 
growing  in  Great  Britain  has  led  us  away 
from  the  examination  of  the  comparison 
of  the  protective  legislation  in  England 
and  America.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  during 
the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries, 
while  England  was  granting  bounties  and 
compelling  the  growing  of  flax,  the  Eng- 
lish Colonies  were  doing  the  same  thing  in 
the  same  way,  and,  in  some  cases,  on  a  much 
larger  scale.  They  also  received  material 
aid  from  the  mother  country,  which  was 


A  S  I  NFL  UENCED  B  Y  LEGISLA  TION.      79 

always  ready  to  encourage  the  production 
and  exportation  to  England  of  raw  mate- 
rials for  manufacture.  Thus,  in  1764,  Par- 
liament granted  a  bounty  of  eight  pounds 
per  ton  on  all  rough  flax  imported  into 
England  from  the  American  Colonies. 
This,  taking  into  account  the  value  of 
money  at  that  time,  is  considerably  more 
than  the  present  duty  imposed  by  our  gov- 
ernment on  imports  of  dressed  flax.  In 
1771  the  bounty  was  decreased  to  six 
pounds  per  ton,  and  it  remained  at  that 
figure  until  commercial  intercourse  was  in- 
terrupted by  the  Revolution.1  In  1703  a 
similar  bounty  of  six  pounds  per  ton  was 
allowed  on  the  importation  of  hemp  ;  and 
the  Assembly  of  Pennsylvania,  in  1730, 
increased  this  by  an  additional  bounty  of 
three  half-pence  per  pound.2 

Massachusetts  gave  early  attention  to 
flax  culture.  In  1639  it  was  enacted  in 
Plymouth,  — 

"That  every  householder  within  the  Governmen1 
shall  sovve  one  rodd  of  ground  square  at  least  with 

1  The  Linen  Trade,  p.  369.  2  i  Bishop,  p.  336. 


80  FLAX   CULTURE 

hemp  or  flax  yearely,  and  some  one  in  every  Towne  to 
be  appoynted  to  see  the  same  donn,  and  present  it 
to  the  Court  in  June  yearely."  x 

In  the  next  year  it  was  further  en- 
acted, — 

"  That  all  such  person  or  persons  as  have  sowed  any 
hempe  or  flaxe  according  to  the  former  act  of  the 
Court,  shall  not  waste  the  same  but  shall  dress  the 
said  hemp  or  flax,  or  procure  it  to  be  dressed  fitt  for 
some  good  use,  and  preserve  the  seed ;  and  the  Com- 
ittees  of  the  several  Townes  shall  see  the  same  soe 
donn  the  week  before  the  Eleccon  Court,  and  to 
make  report  thereof  to  the  Court,  upon  penalty  of  five 
shillings  to  be  forfaited  to  the  Colony's  use  for  every 
delinquent  therein."  2 

This  is  a  reminiscence  of  the  statute  of 
Henry  the  Eighth.  In  the  same  year  the 
Colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay  granted  a 
bounty  of  three  pence  on  every  shilling's 
worth  of  linen  cloth  of  the  growth  of  the 
province  "  for  the  incuragment  of  the 
manifocture,"  but  this  was  repealed  within 
a  year  "  because  too  burthensome  to  the 
country,"  but  not  until  some  bounties  had 

1  Plymouth  Colony  Laws,  p.  63.          2  Ibid,  p.  68. 


A  S  I  NFL  UENCED  B  Y  LEG  I  SLA  TION.    8 1 

been  paid.1  In  1656  it  was  ordered  that 
every  family  should  spin  some  flax ;  and 
the  Act  prescribed  minutely  the  number  of 
pounds  to  be  spun  by  each  family  accord- 
ing to  its  ability,  and  imposed  a  penalty  of 
twelve  pence  for  every  pound  short. 

In  1728  a  considerable  bounty  was 
offered  for  flax-growing"  by  an  Act  enti- 
tled, - 

"  An  Act  for  encouraging  the  raising  of  flax  within 
this  province.2 

"  §  i.  That  from  and  after  the  publication  of  this 
Act,  for  the  encouragement  of  the  manufacturers  of 
canvas  and  cordage,  there  shall  be  paid  out  of  the 
public  treasury  the  sum  of  18  shillings  and  8  pence 
for  every  one  hundred  and  twelve  pounds  of  water- 
rotted,  well-cured,  and  clean-dressed  flax  of  the  growth 
of  this  province. 

"§5.  That  if  any  one  shall  bring  to  the  market 
the  quantity  of  two  hundred  and  twenty-four  pounds 
weight  of  flax,  he  shall  be  allowed  4  shillings  and  8 
pence  per  hundred  over  and  above  what  is  before 
allowed  by  this  Act. 

"  §  7.  This  Act  to  continue  ...  for  the  space  of 
five  years." 

When  this  Act  expired,  it  was  renewed 
with  a  larger  bounty,  and  a  recognition  of 

1  i  Bishop,  p.  299.        2  Province  Laws,  1728,  chap.  7. 


82  FLAX  CULTURE 

the  superiority  of  water-rotted  over  dew- 
rotted  flax. 

"  §  i.  That  .  .  .  there  shall  be  paid  out  of  the  pub- 
lick  treasury  the  sum  of  .  .  .  37  shillings  and  4  pence 
for  every  112  pounds  of  wafer-rotted,  well-cured,  and 
clean-dressed  flax,  and  18  shillings  and  8  pence  for 
every  112  pounds  of  dew-rotted,  well-cured,  and  clean- 
dressed  flax,  of  the  growth  of  this  province. 

"§5.  That  if  any  person  shall  bring  to  the  sur- 
veyor the  quantity  of  224  pounds  of  hemp  or  flax 
...  he  shall  be  allowed  ...  for  water-rotted  flax,  9 
shillings  and  4  pence,  and  for  dew-rotted  flax,  4  shil- 
lings and  8  pence  a  hundred,  over  and  above  what  is 
before  allowed  in  this  Act. 

"  §  6.  This  Act  to  continue  ...  for  ...  three 
years."  I 

By  this  Act  a  bounty  of  $225  per  ton, 
reckoning  money  at  its  present  value,  was 
granted, — a  sum  far  in  excess  of  the 
bounty  offered  by  England  in  1781  of  four 
pence  per  stone  (equal  to  $12.80  per  ton), 
and  five  or  six  times  as  much  as  the  present 
duty  on  dressed  flax  imported  to  this 
country,  with  results  equally  meagre. 

In    1722,  and  at  other  times,  premiums 

1  Province  Laws,  1734,  chap.  15. 


AS  INFLUENCED  BY  LEG/SLA TION.    83 

were  granted  for  linen  cloth ;  but  this 
inquiry  is  not  so  much  concerned  with  the 
growth  of  the  cloth  industry,  as  with 
the  production  of  the  raw  material,  but 
in  the  early  history  of  the  Colonies  the  two 
are  intimately  connected,  as,  unlike  Eng- 
land, the  only  source  of  flax  was  the  home 
supply.  A  large  brick  spinning-school  was 
erected  in  Boston  ;  and  the  Massachusetts 
Assembly,  in  1737,  imposed  a  tax  on  car- 
riages and  other  luxuries,  for  its  mainte- 
nance,1 and  in  1753  the  Assembly  appro- 
priated fifteen  hundred  pounds  annually  to 
aid  the  society  in  charge  of  the  school.2 
In  1770  a  further  appropriation  was  made 
for  the  school,  and  a  large  fund  was  raised 
by  private  subscription.  It  would  be  tedi- 
ous to  enumerate  the  many  other  meas- 
ures taken  in  Massachusetts  to  encourage 
the  raising  of  flax,  the  government,  even, 
at  one  time  (1737)  taking  flax  in  payment 
of  taxes,  at  the  rate  of  six  pence  a 
pound.3 

Connecticut  was  not  behind  Massachu- 

1   I  Bishop,  p.  333.  2  Ibid,  p.  346.  3  Ibid,  p.  335. 


84  FLAX  CULTURE 

setts,  as  an  entry  in  the  colonial   records 
in  1640  reads  :  — 

"  Whereas  yt  is  obserued  as  experience  hath  made 
appeare  that  much  grownd  wthin  these  liberties  may 
be  well  improued  in  hempe  and  flaxe,  and  that  we 
might  in  tyme  haue  supply  of  lynnen  cloath  amongst 
orselves  ...  it  is  Ordered  that  .  .  .  every  family  that 
keeps  a  Teeme  .  .  .  shall  sow  ...  at  lest  on  rood 
of  hempe  or  flaxe  ...  or  in  default  thereof  are  to 
vndergoe  the  censure  of  the  Courte."  J 

In  1725  the  exclusive  right  to  make 
canvas  in  the  province  was  granted  to 
Richard  Rogers.2 

In  Virginia,  strenuous  efforts  were  made 
to  promote  the  cultivation  of  flax.  In 
1673  an  Act  was  passed  for  the  encourage- 
ment of  flax-growing,  and  the  develop- 
ment of  the  home  market.  It  reads  :  — 

"  An  Act  for  the  advancement  of  the  Manufactory 
of  fflax  and  hempe. 

"  Forasmuch  as  it  conduceth  to  the  well  being  of 
any  country  that  the  necessities  thereof  be  supplyed 
from  their  own  industry  within  themselves,  and  that 
the  lesse  they  have  occasion  for  from  abroad,  the  lesse 
will  be  their  dependance  on  forreigne  supplies  whereof 

1  Colonial  Records  of  Connecticut,  p.  61.     2  i  Bishop,  p.  335. 


A S  INFL UENCED  BY  L EGISLA  T/ON.     8 5 

the  calamity  of  warr  and  other  accidents  may  prevent 
them ;  and  whereas  this  assembly  takeing  into  their 
serious  consideration  the  low  and  contemptable  price 
we  are  allowed  for  our  tobaccoes,  occasioned  cheifly 
by  the  greate  quantityes  yearely  made,  hath  thought 
fitt,  if  it  may  be  to  abate  from  the  quantity  by  ad- 
vancing the  more  usefull  and  necessary  manifactory 
of  fflax  and  hempe,  and  in  order  thereunto  have 
enacted  .  .  .  that  the  respective  County  Courts  with- 
in this  colony  doe,  at  the  cost  and  charge  of  their 
counties  .  .  .  procure  one  quart  of  fflax  and  one 
quart  of  hempe  seed  for  every  tythable  person  .  .  . 
and  cause  the  same  to  be  distributed  amongst  the  in- 
habitants, and  that  the  courts  failing  to  procure  the 
said  fflax  and  hempe  seed  ...  be  fined  five  thou- 
sand pounds  of  tobacco  :  And  it  is  further  enacted 
.  .  .  that  every  tythable  [person]  .  .  .  doe  make,  or 
cause  to  be  made,  one  pound  of  drest  fflax  and  one 
pound  of  drest  hempe,  or  two  pounds  of  either,  and 
soe  yearly  and  every  year,  under  the  penalty  of  fifty 
pounds  of  tobacco  for  every  pound  of  fflax  or  hempe 
neglected  to  be  made  as  aforesaid  .  .  .  and  for  the 
better  discovery  of  such  neglect  that  .  .  .  tythables 
at  the  time  of  laying  the  levy  .  .  .  deliver  upon  oath 
that  it  is  of  his  owne  growth."  l 

This  Act  does  not  appear  to  have  been 
fully  successful  in  causing  flax  to  be 
grown,  and  it  was  apparently  evaded,  as 

1  2  Hen.  Stat.,  p.  316. 


86  FLAX   CULTURE 

in  1682  a  subsequent  Act  gave  one-half 
of  the  penalty  of  fifty  pounds  of  tobacco 
to  the  informer ;  and  as  a  further  stimulus 
the  Act  provided  :  — 

"  That  what  person  or  persons  soever  shall  by  his 
industry  out  of  his  own  growth  and  manufacture  work 
up  his  fHax  and  hempe  fitt  for  the  spindle  .  .  .  for 
every  pound  so  wrought  up,  either  of  fflax  or  hempe, 
he,  or  they,  shall  be  allowed  two  pounds  of  tobacco 
for  his  or  their  encouragements  by  the  publique."  l 

The  Act  went  on  to  allow  a  bounty  of 
six  pounds  of  tobacco  for  every  ell  of  linen 
cloth,  three-quarters  of  a  yard  wide,  made 
from  such  flax. 

In  spite  however  of  the  fine  burst  of 
patriotism  and  protection  in  the  preamble 
of  the  Act  of  1673,  the  Assembly  of  Vir- 
ginia felt  obliged  to  repeal  these  laws. 
After  reciting  in  the  preamble  of  the  Act 
the  various  bounties  given  and  penalties 
imposed,  they  say,  — 

..."  which  said  encouragements  ...  are  found 
to  be  rather  a  charge  and  inconvenience,  then  any 
benefitt  to  the  publique,  the  charge  thereby  accumu- 
lated likely  to  be  great,  and  the  effect  of  transposi- 

1  2  Hen.  Stat,  p.  503. 


A  S  I  NFL  UENCED  BY  L  EGISLA  TION.     8  / 

lion  of  tobacco  through  officers  hands  and  much 
thereof  thereby  exhausted ;  and  the  persons  them- 
selves to  whome  the  encouragements  are  thereby  due, 
desiring  to  relinquish  all  their  claimes,  and  the  same 
being  so  represented  to  this  assembly,  rinding  suffi- 
cient encouragement  by  the  benefitt  received  of  their 
labours  to  promote  and  propagate  soe  beneficial 
manufactures."  * 

After  which  follows  the  repealing  clause. 

Bounties  were  again  offered  in  Virginia 
in  I775.2 

The  Assembly  of  Rhode  Island  granted 
considerable  aid  to  William  Borden  in  the 
manufacture  of  canvas  and  duck.  In  1722 
he  was  granted  a  bounty  of  twenty  shil- 
lings on  each  bolt  manufactured  for  ten 
years;  and  in  1725  he  was  granted  five 
hundred  pounds  a  year  for  three  years 
from  the  general  treasury,  "  if  there  be  so 
much  to  spare."  Not  content  with  this 
generous  provision,  he  applied  for  and  re- 
ceived in  1728  a  loan  of  three  thousand 
pounds,  without  interest,  for  ten  years  ;  and 
the  bounty  of  twenty  shillings  per  bolt  was 
continued.3  In  1731,  1735,  and  1751,  Acts 

1  3  Hen.  Stat,  p.  16.      2  i  Bishop,  p.  382.     3  Ibid,  p.  334. 


88  FLAX  CULTURE 

were  passed  granting  bounties  and  pre- 
miums for  flax  raised  in  the  province  ;  but 
the  colonial  records,  as  reprinted,  do  not 
contain  copies  of  these  acts.  Notwith- 
standing all  this,  there  was  in  1767  scarce 
flax  enough  raised  to  supply  the  spinners.1 

In  1765  New  Jersey  granted  bounties 
on  the  raising  of  flax  and  hemp,  and  in 
1766  the  bounties  were  continued  until 
1772  ;  but  these  Acts  are  printed  only  by 
title  in  the  collection  of  Statutes.2 

In  Pennsylvania,  besides  several  Acts  of 
the  Assembly  for  the  promotion  of  flax 
culture,  a  society  composed  of  many  influ- 
ential men  of  the  province  was  formed  in 
1764,  to  encourage  the  manufacture  of 
linen.  Large  premiums  were  offered  for 
the  raw  material  and  manufacture,  among 
which  were  premiums  of  thirty  pounds  to 
ten  pounds  for  the  greatest  amount  of  flax 
raised  by  one  farmer,  and  fifteen  pounds 
to  five  pounds  for  the  greatest  quantity 
on  one  acre.3 

1  I  Bishop,  p.  373. 

2  Acts  of  General  Assembly  of  New  Jersey,  1702-1776,  pp. 
281  and  313. 

3  i  Bishop,  p.  367. 


A  S  I  NFL  UENCED  B  Y  LEG  I  SLA  TION.     89 

A  similar  society  in  New  York  gave  gen- 
erous encouragement  to  domestic  industry 
for  a  number  of  years,  but  the  North-River 
industry  in  New  York  seems  to  have  been 
begun  at  a  much  later  date,  at  a  time  when 
flax-raising  had  no  legislative  protection.1 

In  some  Colonies  the  local  authorities 
took  steps  to  encourage  the  industry ;  and 
Annapolis  and  Baltimore  in  Maryland,  in 
1731,  both  offered  premiums  for  linen 
cloth  made  of  flax  grown  in  the  Colony. 

It  is  thus  evident,  that,  while  England 
was  encouraging  the  production  of  flax  at 
home  by  protective  measures,  her  Colonies 
were  quite  as  active  in  their  own  behalf; 
and  it  is  also  clear  that  the  governments  of 
Great  Britain  and  America  have  not  been 
successful  in  inducing  the  farmers  to  grow 
flax  for  fibre  by  any  system  of  duties, 
bounties,  or  penalties.  It  is  also  to  be  ob- 
served, that  flax-growing  has  had  as  much 
protection  granted  it  in  this  country  as  by 
Great  Britain  ;  and  that  while  the  protec- 
tion granted  by  the  latter  country  was  long 
ago  removed,  raw  flax  having  been  placed 
on  the  free  list  as  early  as  1731,  notwith- 

1  2  Bishop,  p.  205. 


90  FLAX  CULTURE. 

standing  a  much  larger  product  than  ever 
attained  here,  in  America  the  protective 
duties  still  exist.  Is  not  the  burden  on 
those  who  ask  for  the  retention  of  the 
duty,  to  show  what  there  is  to  be  pro- 
tected, to  come  forward  with  facts  and 
figures  showing  the  number  and  location 
of  the  flax-growers,  and  the  amount  of 
their  annual  product,  and  the  extent  of  the 
benefit  that  accrues  to  such  growers  from 
the  duty  ?  Is  it  not  also  incumbent  on 
them  to  show  that  the  imposition  of  the 
duties  has  increased  flax-growing,  or  even 
prevented  it  from  decreasing  ?  In  short, 
is  not  the  burden  of  proof  on  them  to 
show  that  the  benefit  resulting  from  the 
duty  on  raw  flax  outweighs  the  manifest 
injury  to  the  manufacturer  and  consumer 
of  linen  goods  who  pay  the  duty?  No 
intelligent  person  can  give  any  but  an 
affirmative  answer  to  these  interrogatories. 
The  weight  of  evidence,  of  facts,  of  expe- 
rience here  and  abroad,  all  lead  to  the 
same  conclusion,  that  a  duty  on  scutched 
and  hackled  flax  is  not  protection  ;  there 
is  nothing  in  America  to  protect. 


APPENDIX. 


92 


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TABLE   V. 

Much  is  said  about  the  inability  of  the 
American  flax-grower  to  compete  with  the 
"pauper  labor"  of  Europe.  The  follow- 
ing tables  show  the  comparative  cost  of 
the  production  of  flax  in  America  and  in 
Ireland.  It  will  be  seen  that  while  the  cost 
of  labor  is  undoubtedly  higher  in  America 
than  in  Ireland,  yet  this  is  to  a  great  degree 
compensated  for  by  the  greater  value  of 
land  in  Ireland.  In  Holland,  flax  land 
readily  brings  a  yearly  rent  of  300  to  350 
francs  per  hectare,  equal  to  $25  to  $30  per 
acre,  a  price  for  which  good  flax  land  can 
be  bought  outright  in  the  West.  In  all 
manufacturing  processes,  America  has  an 
advantage  in  cheap  fuel  and  water-power. 
(The  first  table  is  taken  from  the  Report  of 
the  Tariff  Commission,  p.  995.) 


100 


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APPENDIX. 


TABLE  vi. 

This  table  shows  the  acreage  of  flax  in  the  flax-growing 
countries  of  the  world,  with  the  yield  in  fibre,  the  value 
of  the  same,  and  the  average  value  per  acre. 
Report  of  Tariff  Commission,  p.  1967. 


COUNTRY,  1880. 

Acres  of 
Flax. 

Quantity 
of  Fibre 
produced, 
in  tons. 

Value  of  same. 

Yield  per 
Acre. 

Russia    .     .     . 

2,000,000 

25O,OOO 

$50,000,000 

About 

$25  oo 

Germany     .     . 

329,362 

57,432 

1  1,500,000 

35  oo 

Austria  .     .     . 

245,090 

50,463 

10,900,000 

44  oo 

Italy  .... 

200,356 

22,953 

4,6OO,OOO 

23  oo 

France   .     .     . 

162,099 

36,969 

I  1  ,000,000 

68  oo 

Ireland   .     .     . 

157,534 

24,508 

7,500,000 

48  oo 

Belgium  .     .     . 

140,901 

29,580 

9,000,000 

64  oo 

Holland  .     .     . 

44,114 

7,286 

2,200,000 

50  oo 

Sweden  .     .     . 

33,639 

4,205 

850,000 

25  oo 

Egypt     .     .     . 

15,000 

1,875 

375,000 

25  oo 

Great  Britain  . 

8,985 

1,398 

300,000 

33  oo 

Denmark    .     . 

6,292 

787 

158,000 

25  oo 

Greece    .     .     . 

957 

119 

25,000 

26  oo 

Total  Europe, 

3,344,329 

487,675 

$108,408,000 

UNITED  STATES,  1881. 

Iowa  .... 

287,400 

1 

Indiana  .     .     . 
Kansas  .     .     . 

193,400 
1  60,900 

1  No  merchantable  fibre  pro- 
duced ;   flax  burned  or 

Illinois   .     .     . 

160,300 

otherwise    destroyed. 

Minnesota  .     . 

95,200 

C     Total  quantity  of  flax 

Ohio  .... 

80,600 

seed  raised  on  this  area, 

Missouri     .     . 

55,000 

about  8,000,000  bushels, 

Nebraska    .     . 

50,000 

valued  at  $8,000,000.  J 

Wisconsin  .     . 

44,500 

J 

Total  Western 
States, 

1,127,300 

1  The  crop  of  flax  seed  for  1885  is  stated  to  have  been  12,000,000  bushels, 
valued  at  $13,500,000. 


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